Brian Harman dominates Open Championship, wins at Hoylake by 6

Sunday morning on the 151st Open Championship was filled with hypothesis.

Might Jon Rahm full his comeback from minimize line to champion? Would Tommy Fleetwood thrill the house crowd along with his first main title? Did Rory McIlroy have a magical final-round efficiency in him?

Ultimately, none of it mattered — Brian Harman would have none of it.

On a soggy Sunday at Royal Liverpool, the 36-year-old left little doubt within the end result. Harman was unflappable within the ultimate spherical in his quest for his first main title, capturing a one-under 70 at Hoylake as he cruised to the Claret Jug by six photographs.

Harman started the day with a five-stroke lead, and the margin remained intact for a lot of the day. Every misstep was met with a a birdie as his lead by no means shrunk under three. Regardless of making three bogeys on the day, 4 birdies — together with the five-stroke cushion he’d constructed by three rounds — had been greater than sufficient to maintain the chasers at arm’s size and earn him his first main title.

Teeing off a number of teams forward of Harman, McIlroy got here out of the gates with a flurry, birdieing three of his first 5 holes. However, very similar to on Saturday, his spherical stalled as he might solely muster level-par golf from there in to complete with a 68. Though the T6-finish is sweet sufficient for his thirty fourth profession main prime 10, his winless drought within the massive ones has now prolonged to 10 years.

“Strong efficiency,” McIlroy stated. “I received off to a extremely good begin, nevertheless it’s simply exhausting to maintain that going.”

Rahm, the opposite massive title in chase, seemed poised to seek out Harman when the day started. Nonetheless, very similar to McIlroy, his ultimate spherical received caught in impartial as he was by no means capable of chip away at Harman’s lead, finally ending T2.

Names like Sepp Straka, Tom Kim, Jason Day and Emiliano Grillo all seemed able to make a cost at numerous factors all through the day, however none might collect sufficient momentum to make a critical problem.

Regardless of the noise from the golf forward of him, within the ultimate pairing, Harman remained unfazed. He made two bogeys over his first 5 holes, however instantly answered with back-to-back birdies. After righting the ship, there was little doubt within the end result.

Harman adopted the same script because the one Tiger Woods used to win the 2006 Open at Hoylake. In that win, Woods didn’t discover a single one in all Hoylake’s bunkers. In Harman’s run to the title, he discovered simply two.

That recipe proved to be a profitable one, and by the point Harman reached the 18th tee, his lead stood at six as he launched into the most effective stroll in golf — a stress-free stroll to the Claret Jug.

Zephyr Melton

Golf.com Editor

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com the place he spends his days running a blog, producing and enhancing. Previous to becoming a member of the crew at GOLF, he attended the College of Texas adopted by stops with the Texas Golf Affiliation, Crew USA, the Inexperienced Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all issues instruction and covers beginner and girls’s golf. He could be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.