Quick-playing Open champion Ryan Fox hailed as 'breath of fresh air' for golf

During last week’s The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale, Montgomerie bemoaned slow play after it had taken five hours and 40 minutes for some groups to complete the first round.

“How has it got to that stage? How has it got to that? TV hates it, spectators hate it,” said the eight-time European No 1, speaking in his role as an ambassador for Loch Lomond Whiskies.

A renowned fast player throughout his career, Montgomerie said he was particularly concerned about how aim point putting had led to things slowing up on the greens in tournaments.

“Oh my god, don’t talk to me about that,” he said. “Oh god, it does my head in. Lee Trevino here in 1971. He finished 14 under and he did it in three balls in less than four hours.

“How do we get back to that? Yes, they say there’s a deterrent for slow play. They say there’s a huge deterrent for slow play. Was anybody penalised yesterday? No. “Something’s got to be done.”

On the back of those comments, Montgomerie was delighted to see Fox, who took just 22 seconds after playing partner Sam Burns had holed out to hit his Claret Jug-winning putt at Royal Birkdale, show that someone can play the game at a proper pace and do well.

“A breath of fresh air, a breath of fresh air” said Montgomerie, speaking to The Scotsman, of Fox. “Twenty-two seconds, apparently from Sam Burns picking his ball out at the hole to him winning The Open.

“Now, what a breath of fresher that is. Even Sky was caught out, I think. He hit it before they were ready and he was almost too far away.

“But it wasn't just the fact he took only 22 seconds. It was for The Open and he holed it. He didn’t rush it and miss it. Yeah, and that just proves my point.

“There’s this business about negative thoughts creeping in. He never gave himself a chance to have a negative thought. It was all positive.

“The longer you go, the more negative thoughts sweep around the head. It was fantastic to see Ryan being a breath of fresh air in that respect and let's hope we can move forward from there.”

Fox, who joined Sir Bob Charles in becoming the only Kiwis to win the game’s oldest major championship, reckoned he produced the best golf of his life over the last six holes and Montgomerie echoed that view.

“He went for it at 13,” observed the Scot. “He birdied 13 by hitting his driver off the tee whereas everyone else was hitting irons. As for 18, it wasn’t just the putt because he hit three perfect shots.

“The drive was absolutely superb, landing five yards from the right-hand bunker, and then his 9-iron was perfect as well. It actually could have been closer than 11 feet as it stopped quickly and was right on line.

“I mean, three perfect shots to win The Open and even Cam Young must have thought, ‘well, come on, he won it, he won it, yeah.’ Fantastic!”