It would ultimately be the elements more so than competitors that Brian Harman would have to battle on Sunday. In the end however, he emerged victorious at The Open becoming the oldest first time major winner since Sergio Garcia in 2017.
Battling through challenging weather conditions at Royal Liverpool, Harman claimed the Claret Jug with a -1 final round to finish six strokes clear of the pack at -13.
From the very beginning, Harman proved to be a force to be reckoned with. Responding to a rare bogey with back-to-back birdies, he never allowed anyone else a real chance at claiming victory, leaving the rest of the field playing for second place. An 8-foot par putt on the final hole was all he needed to capture the 151st edition of The Open Championship.
Few could have foreseen this outcome at the start of the week, as Harman had endured a long and challenging road to success. Having gone 167 tournaments over six years without a victory since his previous win at the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship, this was only his third title in his 12-year tenure on the PGA Tour.
Harman’s dominance was evident as he took the lead on Friday morning during the second round, stringing together four consecutive birdies. From that point onwards, he never relinquished his lead, maintaining a five-shot advantage after both the second and third rounds.
It wasn’t without bumps in the road however. Paired with Englishman Tommy Fleetwood on Saturday, Harman was heckled more than a few times from the decidedly Pro-Fleetwood crowd which followed them.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t hear some things that weren’t super nice today toward me,” Harman told reporters after the round. “I hear them, but at the same time, I don’t try to let that influence the decision I’m about to make.”
Despite the hostile crowd, Harman managed to shoot a two under par round of 69 to take a nearly insurmountable lead into Sunday. Meanwhile Fleetwood would card an even par 71, and ultimately finish in a tie for 10th place at -4 for the weekend.
On the final day, with rain pouring down, Harman faced an early test when his drive veered into a gorse bush on the par-5 fifth hole, forcing him to take a penalty drop resulting in a bogey. The momentary stumble gave hope to his competitors, especially Masters champion Jon Rahm, who birdied his last hole to join a four-way tie for second place with Tom Kim, Sepp Straka, and Jason Day.
However, Harman’s response was nothing short of remarkable. He showed nerves of steel and an unyielding spirit as he drained a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 sixth hole and followed it up with a 25-foot birdie putt on the next hole, reestablishing his commanding lead.
For his efforts, Harman will take home $3M from the record $16.5M purse at Royal Liverpool. While this falls short of the $20M purse at the US Open, it marks the largest prize pool in Open Championship history, up $2M from 2022.
Straka, Day, Kim and Rahm all finished at -7 for the weekend, followed by Emiliano Grillo and Rory McIlroy at -6.
Photo: Phil Nash from Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 & GFDL