During the first round of last year’s WM Phoenix Open, Ryan Fox faced an 88-footer for an eagle on the par-5 13th hole. He hoped he could get down in two and walk away with a birdie four, but instead of lagging it close to the hole, Fox drained it, giving himself the unlikeliest of threes. This putt also held up as the longest-holed putt on the PGA Tour for the 2024 season.
Fast forward to this week’s Mexico Open at VidantaWorld, and Fox faced another incredibly long putt again. He had 91 feet and six inches between his ball and the flagstick on the par-3 5th hole, which played 192 yards on Thursday. Like last year at TPC Scottsdale, Fox poured it in for birdie, as his ball even did some extracurriculars — it spun around the brim of the cup before dropping to the bottom.
“I had the speed of the greens pretty good today. I’m not going to say I had a good line on that, I just kind of picked it out,” Fox said of his long-range bomb.
“It was breaking a whole chunk left to right, and I just tried to get the speed right and got lucky in the end. I didn’t realize how much of a loop around the hole it did, I was obviously pretty far away, so seeing it up close on camera’s pretty sweet.”
Right now, Fox’s birdie on the 5th hole is the longest putt of the 2025 season by 20 feet. Cameron Young made a 71-foot birdie try on the 5th hole during the second round of the WM Phoenix Open.
Given that Fox’s 88-footer held up for the entire year last season, his 91-footer on Thursday has a good chance of being the longest putt of 2025 — a remarkable yet nearly impossible accomplishment.
The New Zealander went on to shoot a 3-under 68 on Thursday and sits four back of leaders Harry Hall of England and Jeremy Paul of Germany. A late double-bogey on the 8th hole — his 17th of the day — stymied Fox’s round at the end, but at least he can hang his hat on another long make.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
