Tour Confidential: Brian Harman’s brilliance, Justin Thomas’ woes, Ryder Cup intrigue

Test in each week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the most popular matters within the sport, and be part of the dialog by tweeting us @golf_com. This week, we focus on Brian Harman’s lights-out victory on the Open Championship, a controversial gap at Royal Liverpool, Justin Thomas’ continued struggles and extra.

Brian Harman was the runaway winner of the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, all however lapping the sphere with a six-shot victory. Harman, who had beforehand received simply twice on the PGA Tour and never since 2017, was on few pundits’ brief lists to prevail this week. How did he do it?

Sean Zak, senior editor (@sean_zak): By not panicking. I feel the phrase grit might be overused when discussing this win, however this golf course was a beast. It was by no means going to be easy getting for Harman to get via the ultimate 36 holes after he’d constructed a five-shot lead, however he dealt with these moments of potential panic with metal. He by no means received out forward of himself. His tempo was plodding. He two-putted like a king. All issues that preserve your prepare on the tracks when issues get dicey.

Jack Hirsh, assistant editor (@JR_HIRSHey): His placing was excellent, however I used to be blown away by his driving. At a course the place we knew you couldn’t hit it within the fairway bunkers, he rose to the duty. His last tally for the week: no fairway bunkers and two greenside bunkers (he made par from each of them). I’ve not often seen a dependable 5-10 yard draw just like the one he was hitting Sunday. It was nearly video game-like.

Josh Sens, senior author (@joshsens): The stats assist inform the story. So does the psyche. When his third on 18 trickled right into a greenside bunker, it was solely the second time he’d discovered the sand all week. He was first in placing. First in fairways hit. That’s a fairly good system wherever, however particularly Hoylake. So was the chip-on-the-shoulder toughness he confirmed. Fast bounce-backs after uncommon bogeys. Early on, it appeared like me would possibly begin to spiral after just a few fanned pictures. However, man, was he powerful.

Zephyr Melton, assistant editor (@zephyrmelton): Laser precision off the tee and a red-hot putter. It doesn’t matter should you’re at a distance benefit if you decide your spots and make seemingly each putt. Typically, it’s simply your week.

In tough situations and towards a pack of alpha-dog chasers, Harman appeared to barely break a sweat on the weekend. The place does his 13-under effort rank within the pantheon of dominating main performances (non-Tiger 1997 and 2000 division)?

Zak: I’ll quote Jon Rahm right here: “He received by six, so there’s nothing actually any of us may have accomplished.” When you’ve gotten the No. 2 participant on the planet acknowledging your dominance as if it was inevitable, it’s fairly unimaginable. Put this proper subsequent to Martin Kaymer’s eight-shot win at Pinehurst in 2014.

Hirsh: As I alluded to earlier than, Harman performed a recreation that was tailored for the course. I truly actually just like the comparisons to Tiger at Liverpool in 2006 given Harman was hitting his driver the identical approach Woods hit his 2-iron that week. I agree with Sean, the Kaymer comparability is truthful.

Sens: Louis Oosthuizen on the Outdated Course involves thoughts as properly. What made it all of the extra spectacular is how lengthy he held that lead for — from early Friday morning on. Powerful to do. However it didn’t have the texture of utter domination. Only a regular drip of wonderful. Enjoyable to see it accomplished that approach. A runaway win that didn’t contain pounding the course into submission.

Melton: I agree with my colleagues within the Kaymer comparability. Harman got here out scorching early after which strangled the life out of the event, very like what we noticed at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014. It didn’t make for a really thrilling event, but it surely was extraordinarily spectacular.

Justin Thomas’ struggles continued at Royal Liverpool, the place he opened with an 11-over 82 and went on to overlook the reduce by eight. Thomas has now missed the reduce in 4 of his final six begins, a stretch that included a second-round 81 on the U.S. Open. What’s happening?

Zak: To me, it’s the interconnectivity of the sport. That putter has been balky all 12 months, and when one side of this recreation turns into all-consuming in its negativity, it tends to bleed into the others. His ball-striking hasn’t been as elite as years previous. His driving hasn’t been pretty much as good, both. The disappointing finishes push him to get again on the horse and check out once more. Bother is, merely taking part in extra doesn’t at all times result in the perfect outcomes, both. It being Ryder Cup crunch time complicates issues. As JT mentioned, he could also be attempting to make that workforce too laborious.

Hirsh: It’s gotta be in his head proper? Issues began to get out of sync after which the free-flowing nature to his recreation disappeared as he rushed to make corrections. I actually suppose sitting out the playoffs and Ryder Cup is likely to be good for him to reset all the pieces. Take a while off. Look a how properly just a few weeks off did McIlroy within the spring.

Sens: You already know the previous noticed. It’s 90 % psychological. And 10 % psychological. Possibly it begins as a mechanical flaw, however that’s inconceivable to disentangle from the lack of confidence that comes with it. And issues start to spiral. Nobody has ever been immune. Why ought to Thomas be?

Melton: Golf is simply actually actually laborious. Practically each participant goes via peaks and valleys throughout their profession (Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler come to thoughts), and sadly it is a valley for JT. The margin between good and unhealthy in golf is so skinny; it’s not simple to get it again on monitor when issues go sideways. He’ll determine it out eventually — he’s too gifted to not.

There are nonetheless a number of extra occasions on the schedule earlier than Zach Johnson will title his captain’s picks for the U.S. Ryder Cup workforce, however with the majors behind us, Thomas’ hopes are at present tenuous at greatest. What does he have to do within the coming weeks to earn a decide, or do you suppose Johnson takes JT no matter his type?

Zak: I feel JT makes this workforce not essentially no matter type. I feel if he misses the reduce in Minnesota after which once more in North Carolina, it’ll be actually tough for Zach to pick out him. However that’s the factor: He shouldn’t miss these cuts. They’ll be comparatively weaker fields at programs that may be picked aside. Even a lesser model of Thomas ought to do properly sufficient there to advantage a decide. And I feel that’s precisely what is going to occur.

Hirsh: The make-up of this workforce is so attention-grabbing proper now. There’s numerous guys (Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau, Cam Younger, Sam Burns, JT) who we in all probability would have mentioned have been locks six months in the past. Now, it’s unclear. I see about three spots for these guys and possibly a few different names. I don’t suppose JT is extra deserving than three of them.

Sens: At this level, it’s laborious to think about Thomas taking part in on the workforce. However even more durable to think about him not taking part in. Awkward place for Zach Johnson. I believe previous efficiency will win out and Thomas will get the nod. However the pool of worthy candidates runs so deep, it might be nice to see another person get a crack on the workforce. The Ryder Cup is meant to be an exhibition. Let’s see some others get an opportunity to exhibit what they’ve received.

Melton: Making some cuts could be a very good place to begin, and a few high 10s absolutely wouldn’t harm. So long as he doesn’t miss each reduce for the remainder of the season, I feel ZJ takes a flier and places him on the workforce. Thomas is without doubt one of the leaders in that workforce room, and having him round in Rome could be good.

Royal Liverpool’s new par-3 seventeenth was a hot talking point all weekwith some gamers praising the opening and others calling its deep bunkers and severely sloped inexperienced banks too penal. Matt Fitzpatrick summed up his opinion on the design in two phrases: “Begin once more.” Your ideas?

Zak: I feel the opening may have some reconsideration. Maybe eradicating that greenside bunker on the correct, or lengthening it even, only a contact, whereas softening the surrounds. Maybe a bit an excessive amount of focus was paid to the thought of making a Sawgrass-esque ending par-3.

Hirsh: Improbable gap. I like brief iron par-3s that demand you to hit the inexperienced. We noticed loads of guys miss the inexperienced and nonetheless get up-and-down too. This can be a main — there are presupposed to be trainwrecks!

Sens: Possibly it was the comparatively calm winds all week, but it surely didn’t appear overly penal in any respect. Fitzpatrick missed the place you completely can’t miss and he paid the worth. General, although, 17 didn’t add practically as a lot tooth (or drama) as many hoped it might.

Melton: I assumed it was a tremendous gap based mostly on the printed, however I’d’ve preferred a bit extra pleasure from it. It was a scorching speaking level coming into the week, but it surely didn’t stay as much as the hype, in my view. Only a fairly commonplace par-3.

The boys’s main season is [sniffle] over! What single reminiscence from this 12 months’s crop of tourneys most sticks with you?

Zak: Rory’s exit at LACC. He engenders such help wherever he goes, and these days it’s all simply resulted in post-major sympathy. I adopted his footsteps via the clubhouse after his second-place end behind Wyndham Clark and noticed the repeated waves of actuality rush over him — from his spouse, his agent, the LACC membership, even the safety guard who flanked him all week. McIlroy will win one other main finally, but it surely’s inconceivable to inform when. And every time he leaves the property, it appears to be simply as heavy because the final shut end. That should exhaust him to no finish.

Hirsh: Jon Rahm’s last gap on the Masters was a good looking ode to his hero Seve Ballesteros.

Sens: Possibly it’s as a result of I had them each in my workplace pool, however I can’t shake the reminiscence of Corey Conners and Viktor Hovland making devastating double bogeys in exactly the identical weird approach on consecutive days within the PGA Championship to take themselves out of the operating. Each have been very a lot within the combine after they got here to the par-4 sixteenth. And each have been undone by the identical oddball shot — blasting irons from a fairway bunker, straight right into a bunker face.

Melton: Brooks Koepka strutting round Oak Hill just like the BK of previous. There’s no participant within the fashionable recreation with extra swagger than Koepka when he’s feeling himself, so it was enjoyable to see him get again to his dominant methods.