As Mackenzie Hughes and Harry Higgs took their mano-a-mano duel to the 18th hole in Sunday’s final round of the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic, Ryan Fox was out of sight and somewhat out of mind at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club’s practice area, trying his best not to pay too much attention to what might be about to happen.

While most of the tournament’s rain-soaked fans were following the two players who had led or shared the lead most of the day, the 38-year-old Auckland, New Zealand native – whose closing round of 5-under par 66, capped by a birdie at the par-3 17th, got him to 15-under – could only stay warmed up and hope for the possibility of a shot at his first PGA Tour victory.

That… and try not to drive himself crazy.

“To be honest, hitting balls was just to stop my brain from racing,” Fox said, grinning. “I don’t think I actually thought about too much on the range; otherwise I would have been a nervous wreck waiting for those guys to putt out.”

Not that he was oblivious to the drama at 18. “There were plenty of guys telling me what was going on,” Fox said. “So I kind of knew what was going on. Then I could tell by the crowd reaction” if either Hughes or Higgs had converted a winning putt in regulation.

Neither did. So the tournament went to a playoff … and the man who’d seemed least likely to win did just that, with probably the biggest shot of the week.

Fox’s approach shot to the 18th green sat in the back right fringe, while Hughes and Higgs were looking at putts. Fox seemingly had the toughest shot to win – until he did.

His chip from about 50 feet rolled down-slope and into the cup for an amazing birdie, earning him a roar from the greenside gallery. Then he watched, a smile growing on his face, as Higgs and then Hughes missed birdie putts of 30 and 12 feet, respectively, to come up short.

“You don’t want to be pessimistic, but you kind of figure someone is going to hole a putt on the last,” Fox said. “I kind of said to my caddie, ‘regardless of what happens, I did all I could control really well out there.’”

Another grin. “I was very ‘chuffed’ to get another chance, and obviously it worked out in my favor,” to the tune of a PGA Tour victory, a two-year exemption, entry to the winners-only The Sentry next January and a $720,000 payday.

Just getting into the position was crucial for Fox, who was facing his first-ever PGA Tour playoff. Even without experience, he knew what was coming.

“Obviously I knew the two guys had pretty good birdie chances,” he said. “I just wanted to give the chip a run at it. I had a really similar line in regulation and missed the putt right. My caddie, Dean, said to me, ‘Remember, this doesn’t break that much.’

“So I just kind of aimed straight at it, and I hit the spot I wanted to hit, which is always a nice thing. About eight feet from the cup, it never looked like it was going anywhere else, and the rest of it is a bit of a blur from there.”

Until the playoff, Fox had been almost a stealth contender during the tournament’s first three rounds. A Saturday round of 68 that included four straight birdies to start his day, but only three pars, brought him to 10-under par, three shots behind Young and also trailing Hughes and Higgs when Sunday’s round began.

“(Saturday) was a strange, strange day,” Fox said. “But I’m happy I didn’t play my way out of the tournament making six bogeys.”

Little did he know what was coming Sunday afternoon.

Fox might be new to the American tour, but he’s hardly a “rookie” in international golf. He’s won four times on the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour), most recently at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, England. That came via a final-round 67 capped by an up-and-down birdie on the final hole, winning by a shot over Tyrell Hatton and Aaron Rai.

He also had experience at The Dunes, having tied for fourth here a year ago when winner Chris Gotterung ran away with the title. But transitioning from the often-cozy European game to the U.S. version can be challenging for non-Americans, and Fox said his experience to date was a prime example.

“Yeah, it’s obviously just a different country, different culture,” he said. “For me I was really comfortable in Europe. I’d been out there, like, seven or eight years, knew how everything worked, knew the tournaments I wanted to play and knew a lot of the golf courses.

“Coming over here last year, everything was new. New golf courses, new cities. The travel is a bit different. We didn’t have a base over here last year or in ‘23 when I played a little bit as well. That made it really hard.

“I think last year I spent 20 weeks on the road with (wife Anneke Ryff and) two kids under 4. While it was great fun, I certainly wouldn’t recommend anyone do it for very long.”

The differences also extend to playing golf, too. “The (talent) level is a little bit stronger out here,” Fox said. “I think the top guys in Europe or on DP have proven they can compete out here, no problem, but I think the field is just a little bit deeper out here.”

Going forward, that shouldn’t be a problem for Fox. He’s now part of the PGA Tour, and with his first victory, he is part of that “deeper” talent base.

All it took was a perfect chip shot… and the confidence to get in position to make it count.

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