Fourth time the charm: Ryan Fox wins 2025 RBC Canadian Open on fourth playoff hole

USA Today

3 hours ago

Fourth time the charm: Ryan Fox wins 2025 RBC Canadian Open on fourth playoff hole
Ryan Fox is becoming a dangerous man in playoffs on the PGA Tour.
The 38-year-old from New Zealand closed in 66 and then won in extra holes for the second time in a month, edging Sam Burns on the fourth playoff hole to take the 2025 RBC Canadian Open.
Just last month, Fox showed his flair for the dramatic, chipping in on the first playoff hole to win the OneFlight Myrtle Beach Classic. This time, he hit a beauty at 18, a 3-wood to inside 10 feet to set up a two-putt birdie.
"That shot I hit on 18, that 3-wood, was probably the best shot I've ever hit," he said. "It would've been nice to make it [the ensuing putt] but, hey, I'll take it."
Fox moved into contention with a 64 on Saturday and entered the final round one stroke off the lead. But he ended up chasing, Burns, 28, who caught fire on the back nine at TPC Toronto's Osprey Valley (North Course). Burns birdied the first five holes on the back nine and canned a 10-foot birdie at the last, raising his putter with his left hand and squeezing his fist tight as it dropped for 62 and a 72-hole total of 18-under 262.
'Couldn't ask for an easier putt,' Burns said. 'I knew I needed to make birdie there to have a chance.'
He added: 'I hope it's enough.'
Almost but not quite enough. Burns finished his round at 4:02 p.m. local time and then had to wait nearly two hours. Cameron Young needed a birdie at the last but ripped a 3-wood over the green and made bogey.
'I thought in the air I was going to have about a 12-footer to win the tournament, and it ended up somewhere I was going to struggle to make par, let alone make a 4. Pretty upset,' Young said. 'Played pretty well. Kind of just want to go home right now.'
Kevin Yu (66) needed to hole a pitch for eagle but came up empty and finished in third, one stroke better than Young (65) and Matt McCarty (67).
'I hung in there,' Yu said. 'Proud of how I fought.'
The last person with a chance to force a playoff was Fox. With the New Zealand All Whites football team, who had won its game against the Ivory Coast the night before, watching from a luxury box above the 18th green, Fox wedged to 17 feet and his birdie putt to force a tie trickled in. 'By a fingernail,' said CBS's Jim Nantz.
What happened in the playoff at the 2025 RBC Canadian Open?
They returned to the 576-yard par-5 18th for the playoff and Burns had a chance to win it on the first hole after Fox grazed the left edge from 16 feet. But Burns, who ranks first in Strokes Gained: Putting this season, rimmed the right edge from 6 feet.
After Burns laid up on 18 again at the second playoff hole, Fox drew cheers when he switched from an iron to a fairway wood. His shot flirted with the pond fronting the green but held up in the first cut of rough, leaving a pitch from 44 yards. Burns wedged to 15 feet and didn't scare the hole, missing to the left. Fox left his 12-foot putt for victory short. So, they returned to 18 again but after a change in the hole location this time. Burns wedged his third from 75 yards and it spun off the false front of the green. He recovered for par, which Fox could do no better than match by taking two putts from 39 feet.
'This is turning into a pillow fight,' remarked CBS's Trevor Immelman as the playoff participants each made three straight pars.
Fox described the playoff the same way but went for broke with a 3-wood from 269 yards that soared high in the air and faded to about 5 feet from the hole.
'Landed like a bird,' Nantz said.
Burns reached the green in two but powered his eagle effort more than 10 feet past the hole and missed the comebacker to take the pressure off Fox, who missed his eagle try but tapped in for the birdie and celebrated by hugging his two kids, who asked, "Did you win, daddy?"
It took four extra holes but for the second time in a month, the Kiwi is a winner.