Brian Harman Wins The Open Championship
The Georgia journeyman records a six-stroke win for his first major title. Plus, local hope Matthew Jordan secures a top ten and Hoylake holds up on a wet Sunday in England.
No thrills, chills, kills or three putts. But plenty of fairways and greens.
Brian Harman’s machine-like final round at rainy Royal Liverpool ended with a 70 and a six-stroke victory over Sepp Straka, Tom Kim and Jason Day. The 2023 Open Championship victory earned Harman the Claret Jug, the privilege of joining Hoylake’s stout list of 14 former champions and his first major.
There will be an understandable focus on Harman’s epic putting performance and the numbers do bear out. It’s all the more incredible given that Harman uses the positively hideous TaylorMade Spider OS CB. I’m having a hard time envisioning it beside J.H. Taylor’s driver or Tiger’s two-iron, but the spaceship-inspired mallet and its user made the difference based on a strokes gained dominance of +11.57.
Harmon finally missed a putt inside 10 feet on Sunday but his performance remains historic, with a 100% make rate under five feet and 14 of 15 under ten feet:
Harman’s driving brilliance was not fully captured in the strokes gained number due to his lack of distance. He led the field in fairways hit and avoided Hoylake’s hazards:
As for the rest of the field, they had every opportunity to put a scare into the leader who had been in charge since midday Friday. Sunday’s steady rain made momentum difficult to conjure up as players juggled umbrellas and gloves. BUt it also looked as if several elite players appeared to read too much break into Hoylake’s subtle greens. Even with a softened course and gentler Sunday setup, three players recorded 67 as Sunday’s low score. One of those was by World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and before the heavy stuff came down to turn the Claret Jug ceremony into a miserable affair.
“I'm over the moon,” Harman said in the post round press session. “It was a tough last three days, really was. Being able to get some sleep was big last night. Sleeping on a lead like that is really difficult, so glad of the way I hung in there the last couple days.”
Harman paid tribute to the hearty fans for weathering the conditions Sunday.
“Normally they do such a great job of letting you know where your golf ball is because the applause here is always great,” he said. “They appreciate really good shots. But since everyone is holding an umbrella it's hard for everyone to clap. There was a couple times I got up there and I was like, oh, that's better than I thought it was.
“But the fans here have been incredible. My hats off to them. They packed the stands today. I damn sure wouldn't have been out watching golf today.”
His post-round press conference covered its fair share of backwoods-infused revelations, including more on his hunting and plans to test out a new tractor he’s ordered.
Harman also revealed a key to his recent putting resurgence after refusing to share until the championship was complete: an old training aid he’d tucked away in his farmhouse came back out on the road with him.
“It's a silly looking mirror where it's got like a little better release pattern,” he said, unsure what tour event he picked it up at. “I was just kind of cutting my putts too much. I spent a lot of time just feeling the ball, almost hitting like a baby draw with my putter, and it's been really, really good the last month or so.”
After his rounds of 67-65-69-70, Harman is now exempt to The Open until his 60th birthday.
“I look forward to coming back for a really long time,” Harman said. “Growing up in Georgia, obviously being a huge fan of golf, I've watched The Open Championship. We would wake up early and watch it. I never knew how much I'd appreciate it until the first time I came I played in 2014. I just didn't know what to expect. You grow up in Georgia, it's all the Masters.”
But Harman became a quick convert to the charm of links golf and The Open vibe.
“I came here and I was like, wow, man, this is unbelievable,” he said. “The fans are incredible. Everyone understands golf over here. It was just a delight to play. Man, I'm stoked. Stoked to come back here.”
Harmon By The Numbers
The 36-year-old becomes the 32nd American to win the Open (ten more than Scotland despite the robust 19th century head start). Also:
He won in his eighth Open appearance.
Harman is the third left-handed winner following Bob Charles (1963) and Phil Mickelson (2013.)
Harman’s 271 matches Rory McIlroy in 2014 and is one behind Tiger Woods’ record of 270 for Hoylake in 2006.
Harman’s victory is the tenth straight by a first time winner. Longest span of first-time winners The longest span of first-time winners of The Open is from 1994 to 2004 when there were 11 first-time champions in this period from Nick Price to Todd Hamilton.
The last player to have won two or more Championships was Ernie Els in 2012.
285.1 driving distance average for the week (51st).
42/60 fairways (75%) (1st)
48/72 greens (67%) (T14th)
0 three-putts.
First place check: $3,000,000
Lows
Miscellaneous “low” player in some key sub-categories.
Amateur: Christo Lamprecht (66-79-76-74-295) was the lone am to make the weekend.
Senior: Stewart Cink (68-73-71-72-284) beat Padraig Harrington (+8) by eight to be the top over-50 golfer.
Fitzpatrick: Alex (74-70-65-73-282) over Matt (72-72-67-75-286)
Hoylake member: Matthew Jordan (69-72-69-70-280)
Hojgaard: Nicolai (71-70-69-74-284)
Final Qualifying graduate: Jordan at T10, but it was a fantastic week for those who went through the qualifying process with four in the top 11 to start Sunday. Besides Jordan, the finishes of the others: Alex Fitzpatrick (T23), Thomas Detry (T13) and Antoine Rozner (T20).
Jordan Caps Off Dream Week In Style
He really is the Wirral Wonder.
Matthew Jordan capped off a dream week with a final hole birdie and T10 Open finish where he’s played since boyhood.
“It was just the perfect finish to what has been the most unbelievable week,” he said. “Just rolling that in, I just so wanted to knock it in just for everyone who's supported me, just to go mental one last time and crazy. They stuck with me even in the rain like this.
“To be able to do it for them and have that kind of ultimate feeling, as it were, to birdie the last at my home course at The Open is just brilliant.”
The finish earns him a spot in the 152nd at Royal Troon and $308,400.
Jordan was unaware of the top 10 finish exemption he will receive into next year’s Open.
“It didn't really cross my mind,” he said. “I didn't know exactly what my finish was, which again, is just another thing, holing that putt on the last is just a massive bonus.”
The 27-year-old one-time Walker Cupper’s fine play could easily be chalked up to knowing Royal Liverpool better than any player in the field. But such intimate knowledge of every single spot of bother could have been a massive detriment. So could finishing last in driving distance with a 269.2 average. But nothing phased Matthew Jordan in a performance that made Hoylake proud.
Quotable
USA Ryder Cup Captain Zach Johnson on Brian Harman. “What is transpiring this week, I would even say last week and the last couple tournaments he's played in does not surprise me in the least. He is a very formidable competitor, number one. Number two, hey, what does Brian Harman do really well? Well, he does everything quite well. He's a very good driver of the golf ball and a very, very, very good putter. Then if everything else is good, then it can be pretty lethal.”
Rory McIlroy on Brian Harman. “I don't think it'll change that much for him. He likes to go hunt in the wintertime and likes his off-season. If I know Brian like I think I do, I don't think it's going to change him as a person. There might be a few more demands on his time, but apart from that, I think it'll be pretty much the same.”
Padraig Harringoton on what advice he’d give Harman: “I did put psychological tips on my YouTube, Instagram, and nobody had any interest. They were the least watched things when I did it during COVID. No traction whatsoever. Not interested. All those pearls of wisdom. Look, I think Brian Harman is a very dogged person. He's the right person to hold a lead like that. Clearly he hasn't won a major, but he's a very tough, experienced character.”
Runner-up Sepp Straka on his improving Ryder Cup prospects. “It would be huge. It would be amazing. It's been a huge goal. Over the last year and a half really it's been on my radar, and really looking forward to having a chance.”
Cameron Young on his level of excitement at finishing T8 after getting into the last pairing Sunday. “My level of excitement with tied for eighth is absolutely zero. But I mean, yet again, I put myself in a position to win a major championship and had an unfortunate day. But one of these times the unfortunate day will be the next Tuesday or something and not Sunday.”
Cam Smith on his title defense week. “It was awesome being back. I would have liked to have done a better job at defending it, but yeah, just wasn't my week this week. I can't wait to get back here next year and give it another crack. It's golf that I've learned to love. Can't wait.”
Matthew Jordan, asked if he would have played in this weather if it weren’t an Open week. “In the morning, I would have checked the weather and gone down in the morning, but I think once lunchtime hit, I thought anyone who's out there, what an idiot…No, to answer your question, I don't think I would have been out in this.”
Alex Fitzpatrick on what’s next for him. “It'll be Challenge Tour for the rest of the year and see if I can play well enough to get off…no disrespect to Challenge Tour, it's the Tour I play on, but you play against the best players in the world and it's a major championship, so I think a lot of things would be a bit of a come-down from this. But it is what it is. I've got to do it. I've got to play there.”
Max Homa on his -4/280/T10 finish, his first major top 10: “It's nice to play the last one like this. If LA was the last one this would have been a hard one to swallow, but getting to end on kind of my high note was a good feeling going into whatever long break. I'm sure Shane Bacon knows how long it is until the next major. It's nice to take that into those next bundle of days.”*
*263 days