How Ryan Fox won Canadian Open

The RBC Canadian Open has a knack for delivering dramatic moments.

Three years ago, Rory McIlroy defended his title by defeating Tony Finau and Justin Thomas. At the onset of the LIV Golf-PGA Tour war, McIlroy celebrated his win with a jab at then-LIV Golf CEO and commissioner Greg Norman. In 2023, Canadian Nick Taylor drained a 72-foot eagle putt to defeat Tommy Fleetwood in a playoff. Last year, Robert MacIntyre won with his father on his bag as a fill-in caddie.

The 2025 edition won’t be remembered in the same light as those mentioned above but there was plenty of drama on Sunday in Caldeon, Ontario.

Sam Burns went out Sunday at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley and fired a final-round eight-under 62 to take the clubhouse lead. Burns waited for two hours as 54-hole co-leaders, Matteo Manassero and Ryan Fox, and other would-be contenders made their way around the course.

Cameron Young’s chance

Burns watched Kevin Yu and Ben An rise and fall and rise again. Then came the first real challenger: Cameron Young.

Burns saw the long-bombing Young blitz his way up the leaderboard and gave himself a chance to win in regulation with an eagle on the par-5 18th. Young blistered his drive and then smoked his 3-wood dead into the wind. Walking after his second shot, Young believed he had hit the shot needed to give him a winning putt. Instead, the ball ripped through the wind, bounced over the green, and nestled in thick rough off the back. Young eventually made bogey, and Burns dodged a challenger.

“This very moment, a lot of anger, a bit of frustration,” Young said after he finished T4. “I couldn’t have hit two better shots on the last hole. I don’t hit 3-wood that far, and it’s blowing straight into the wind, and it decided to bounce all the way to the back woods. 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. Played pretty well. Kind of just want to go home right now.”

A feel-good story that fell short

Burns stood warming up on the range as other contenders fell short of his 18-under mark for the tournament.

He dodged Yu and An. He watched as Manassero, a former golf prodigy who once found rock bottom in pro golf, let his chance at a career-changing win slip away.

“It was a nice week,” Manassero said after finishing in a tie for sixth place. “My game is trending in the right direction for sure, and I think to ultimately end up winning tournaments, you need to go through days like this in which you learn how to maybe improve something that could possibly be improved. Today, my game probably wasn’t as good as the other days. I guess that’s something that you can only feel and experience when you’re under that kind of pressure on a Sunday to play for a PGA TOUR event. So I will take that in and know the stuff I have to work on.”

“Pillow fight” playoff with a Fox

Finally, all that was left was Fox, the 38-year-old New Zealander who just won his first PGA Tour event last month with a chip-in during a playoff at the Myrtle Beach Classic.

After birdies at 14 and 15, Fox sat just one shot back of Burns with three holes to play, including the par-5 18th. Fox missed a 24-foot putt for birdie on 16 and then missed an eight-footer for birdie on 17.

Burns just stood on the range, sending balls into the Toronto sky, hoping he could dodge one last contender.

Fox hit the 18th fairway, laid up with his second, and stuck his third to 17 feet. The New Zealander gave his birdie putt a confident stroke, but it looked like he left it out to the left. As it approached the hole, the ball crept back toward the cup and barely slid in the side door to send the 2025 RBC Canadian Open to a playoff.

From there, the drama stalled.

Burns and Fox both made par at the first playoff hole, with Burns, statistically the best putter on the PGA Tour, missing a six-foot birdie putt for the win. It didn’t even touch the hole. Both players made par again during their next go around on 18, with Fox leaving his birdie attempt short.

After the hole location was changed to the front right portion of the green, Burns and Fox played the 18th hole for a third time. Both laid up with their second shot and made a mess of their third. Fox pulled his long and left to the back of the green while Burns ripped his off the front and almost into the water. Both players again made par.

Finally, the fourth time was a charm.

Both players blistered their drives to give them a shot at going for the green in two. Fox had 258 to the hole and hit a majestic 3-wood that landed soft on the green and stopped seven feet away from the cup.

Burns went next and pulled his shot to the left side of the green. The best putter on Tour’s best weapon once again let him down as he ran the 40-foot eagle putt 10 feet past and then missed the comebacker to give Fox an easy two-putt for the win.

“It was tough,” Fox said after his win. “I hit some great shots down the stretch in regulation. Probably got a little lucky on that putt on 18 in regulation, snuck in the left door. To be honest, Sam and I had a bit of a pillow fight there for three holes. It was some pretty average golf from both of us, some average putting. But that shot I hit on 18 with the 3-wood was probably the best shot I ever hit. It would have been nice to make it, but hey, I’ll take it.”

That shot made him a two-time PGA Tour winner and left Burns staring at his putter for answers, thinking about the one that got away as he heads to Oakmont for the 2025 U.S. Open.