Fresh off his historic win, Ryan Fox came home and celebrated where it matters most - locally!
Ryan Fox has just become the fourth New Zealander in history to win a golf major, but if his homecoming week proved anything, it's that beneath the Claret Jug and the crowds at Takutai Square beats the heart of a proper North Shore local - one who knows exactly where to go for a good feed and a good time.
After landing back in New Zealand fresh off his Open Championship triumph at Royal Birkdale, Fox didn't head straight for the five-star treatment. He went where any self-respecting Shore local goes when they're craving comfort food: the bakery.
The Pie Run That Started It All (and Named a New Local Legend)
The very first taste of home actually came courtesy of Sherry Kitchen, the Northcote catering company that dropped a batch of pies at Fox's house the morning he landed: steak, bacon jam and cheese, exactly what he'd been craving since he was overseas.
He then went and had a second serving anyway, this time from Rollers Bakery in Northcote, home of that same steak, bacon jam and cheese pie. Fox was spotted through the shop window tucking into one just five hours after landing back in New Zealand with the Claret Jug in tow. Word spread fast, and Rollers has since named the pie "The Foxy" in his honour: a sesame-topped, steak-based take on a cheeseburger, layered with caramelised bacon-and-onion jam and cheese. It's since become the bakery's hottest seller, with co-owner Tamara Tait telling stuff.co.nz they had sell-outs two days running and customers happily queuing 45 minutes for a fresh batch straight out of the oven. Nobody was about to judge a major champion for a double pie day.
It's the kind of unpretentious, neighbourhood-bakery moment that captures exactly why the Shore loves him back: for all the trophies, Fox still queues up for a pie like the rest of us.
An Uno Night to Remember
The real party, though, came a week after his winning putt, when around 50 close friends and family gathered for a private dinner at Osteria Uno in Birkenhead. Booked from four until eight, the celebration ran until two in the morning, with 18 bottles of pinot noir working their way through the room and everyone getting a turn holding the Claret Jug.
"It was a good night," Ryan told stuff.co.nz "I ruined a lot of Mondays, which I was more than happy with, including my own."
A True Shore Celebration
Between Sherry Kitchen's welcome-home delivery, a pie so good it now carries his name, and the long lunch-turned-all-nighter at Osteria Uno, Ryan's homecoming reads like a love letter to Northcote and Birkenhead's food and drink scene: proof that even golf's newest major champion is happiest celebrating close to home.
Every time you support a local business, you're helping create jobs, keeping money in our community, and making the North Shore a better place to live. Sounds good, right?
