Unlikely winner? Not if you knew Brian Harman all along

HOYLAKE, England — Greater than a dozen years later, Georgia males’s golf coach Chris Haack nonetheless remembers what Brian Harman mentioned to him as he walked off the fifteenth gap on the Inverness Membership in Toledo, Ohio.

Harman, a senior and the Bulldogs’ high participant, was battling Rickie Fowler in a back-and-forth match that will resolve which crew would advance to the semifinals of the 2009 NCAA championship.

On the fifteenth gap, Fowler two-putted for par. Harman needed to make an eight-footer to stay 1 down within the match. He drained the putt. When Harman appeared up, he observed that Fowler and Oklahoma State Cowboys coach Mike McGraw had been already strolling towards the sixteenth tee field, leaving him to stroll again throughout the inexperienced to retrieve the pin.

“That simply fries me,” Harman advised Haack as he walked off the fifteenth inexperienced. “I am about to whip his ass.”

Each gamers made birdie putts exterior 15 toes on the sixteenth gap. On the seventeenth, Harman made one other birdie, whereas Fowler’s attempt lipped out. On the 18th, Fowler hit his method shot to about 30 toes. Harman’s ball landed 8 toes from the opening. Fowler missed his birdie try, and Harman sank his for a 3rd straight birdie to win the match.

“That was top-of-the-line matches I’ve ever seen,” mentioned PGA Tour participant Harris Englishone in all Harman’s teammates at Georgia. “I want it had been on TV or somebody had a video of it. He discovered one thing to piss him off, and a pissed-off Brian Harman is no one you wish to mess with on the golf course.”

Whereas Harman may need surprised the golf world by capturing the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Membership on Sunday, Haack, English and others who’ve recognized him since his junior golf and school days had been ready for him to win one thing large. They most likely did not assume he would end 13 beneath and win the Claret Jug by 6 strokes, which tied for the biggest margin of victory within the storied event’s historical past.

“He had such an excellent pedigree,” Haack mentioned. “He was at all times an excellent participant and really aggressive. However I believe the one factor that has eluded him was simply attending to the winner’s circle most likely much more occasions than he would have appreciated. He is actually put himself in rivalry with all these high 10s.

“That is extra of what I assumed I’d see in some unspecified time in the future. I believe as he has gotten older and wiser, he’s most likely taking part in smarter and appeared to have a great recreation plan all week.”

An English fan delivered Harman the motivation he wanted throughout Saturday’s third spherical. After Harman made bogeys on two of the primary 4 holes, the person advised him, “Harman, you do not have the stones for this.”

“That helped,” Harman mentioned.

In Sunday’s remaining spherical, he had bogeys on two of the primary 5 holes and his lead was lowered to three. However then he made back-to-back birdies and added two extra on the again.

“He is at all times had a chip on his shoulder, completely,” mentioned PGA Tour participant J.T. Poston. “That is what makes him good. He simply on the market and he is like, ‘I do not care how I’ll do it, however I’ll beat you.'”

Harman, 36, is just the third left-handed participant to win The Open, becoming a member of Bob Charles (1963) and Phil Mickelson (2013).

Rising up on a golf course in Savannah, Georgia, Harman dreamed of successful not The Open however a inexperienced jacket at Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership.

“You develop up in Georgia, it is all of the Masters,” Harman mentioned. “It is proximity. However I got here right here and I used to be like, ‘Wow, man, that is unbelievable.’ The followers are unimaginable. Everybody understands golf over right here. It was only a delight to play.”

Harman’s father was a dentist, his mom a chemist. Neither was a golfer. After Harman began taking part in the sport with different youngsters, he persuaded his mom to take him to see legendary teacher Jack Lumpkin, the director of instruction at Sea Island Resort on the Georgia coast. Lumpkin, who had realized beneath Claude Harmon (Butch’s father), appreciated what he noticed from the 11-year-old. He advised him to return again each six months.

The primary time Sea Island resident Davis Love III noticed Harman play, he was throwing golf equipment in a junior event. PGA Tour professional Brendon Toddhis teammate at Georgia, remembers competing in opposition to him in a junior event in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Todd was 17 and two years older than Harman.

“He was probably the most proficient, offended child I would seen that time,” Todd mentioned. “I keep in mind strolling off the golf course being like, ‘If that man can simply settle down just a little bit, he will be out-of-this-world good. He was only a stud.”

Harman did and he was. He received the 2003 U.S. Junior Newbie, turning into solely the third left-handed winner of a United States Golf Affiliation occasion in its 108-year historical past. He was ranked the No. 1 newbie on this planet. In 2005, he was the youngest participant to ever compete on an American Walker Cup crew. He was foursome companions with Anthony Kim and had a 2-0-1 file.

Poston mentioned PGA Tour gamers have talked about how Harman was one of many few junior gamers that would have turned professional and had success, with out taking part in in school.

“He was that sharp and developed,” Poston mentioned.

When Harman joined the College of Georgia’s golf crew in 2007, then-senior Kevin Kisner could not consider how proficient the freshman was. He remembers Harman hitting at the very least one flag throughout practically each observe spherical they performed collectively.

“It was unimaginable how good he might hit it when he was 17,” Kisner mentioned. “I used to be like, ‘This man goes to kill all people.’ It did not even section him how good he was hitting it. I joke to him on a regular basis that he was higher when he was 17 than he’s now.”

Harman most likely by no means reached his full potential at Georgia, successful two tournaments in his 4 seasons with the Bulldogs.

“I had success,” Harman mentioned. “Like I had the pedigree. Then I obtained to varsity and it simply form of sputtered just a little bit. I simply did not sustain with the development.”

Harman has been a great however not nice PGA Tour participant. Earlier than this week, he had received twice on the PGA Tour and earned about $30 million. He tied for second on the 2017 U.S. Open and for sixth eventually 12 months’s Open Championship at St. Andrews in Scotland. For the reason that begin of the 2017-18 season, he had 29 top-10 finishes on tour, probably the most of any participant with out a victory.

“My professional profession has been actually good at occasions and never good at occasions,” he mentioned.

Along with Lumpkin, Harman discovered two different mentors at Sea Island: Love, a 21-time winner on the PGA Tour, together with the 1997 PGA Championship, and two-time main winner Zach Johnson. They’re amongst a number of gamers who stay and practice on the island.

They labored to assist Harman management his feelings on the course.

“He was at all times passionate and had a mood,” Love mentioned. “However you are not going to be Rory McIlroy or Jon Rahm or Brian Harman except you’ve just a little little bit of a chip in your shoulder and confidence and cockiness, and he is actually obtained that. He at all times felt like different obtained extra consideration than him, whether or not he was one of many Georgia Bulldogs or the Sea Island guys, however he is positively been top-of-the-line abilities we have had round right here.”

Johnson, the Ryder Cup captain, noticed loads of his recreation in Harman’s.

“We’re each simply gritty,” Johnson mentioned. “We each do not care how far the ball goes off the tee. We depend on our strengths. We do not attempt to manipulate our video games simply due to what we witness with different gamers or no matter exterior elements would possibly floor.

“His recreation is de facto easy: The ball goes straight, would possibly fall proper, and he is a extremely, actually good putter. I believe he is an excellent reader of the greens.”

A few years in the past, Harman began working with Justin Parsons, an teacher from Northern Eire, who had coached English, Kizzire, Louis Oosthuizen and others. Harman additionally continued working with Lumpkin, who handed away in February 2022. Harman named his son, Jack, after Lumpkin.

At 5-foot-7 and 150 kilos,, is among the smallest gamers on tour. He would not hit his tee photographs so far as gamers like McIlroy and Cameron Younghowever he is not exceptionally brief, both. Parsons knew Harman had an distinctive brief recreation and was top-of-the-line putters on tour. Parsons satisfied him to stop worrying about distance to change into a greater iron participant.

“We have labored actually exhausting for a few years to get him extra on high of the golf ball to make him a greater iron participant,” Parsons mentioned. “He is at all times been a extremely good driver of the ball. However his iron play hasn’t been fairly as much as the usual to the place he was going to have the ability to persistently do what he was eager to do.”

All facets of Harman’s recreation had been on show at Royal Liverpool. He led the sphere in driving accuracy, hitting 75% of fairways, and averaged 285.4 yards off the tee. He hit 66.7% of greens and wanted only one.5 putts per gap, which was second amongst gamers who made the minimize. Six years and 77 days since his final victory on the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship, all of it got here collectively once more at The Open.

“I’ve at all times had a self-belief that I might do one thing like this,” Harman mentioned. “It is simply when it takes a lot time it is exhausting to not let your thoughts falter, like perhaps I am not successful once more. I am 36 years previous. Recreation is getting youthful. All these younger guys popping out, hit it a mile, they usually’re all able to win. Like when is it going to be my flip once more?

“It has been exhausting to take care of. I believe somebody talked about that I’ve had extra high 10s than anybody since 2017, in order that’s loads of occasions the place you get carried out, you are like, ‘Dammit, man, I had that one.’ It simply did not occur for no matter purpose. I do not know why this week, however I am very grateful that it was this week.”

Harman mentioned he deliberate on ingesting Guinness out of the Claret Jug on Sunday night time. He’ll fly to Syracuse, New York, on Monday to see his spouse, Kelly, and their three youngsters, who’re spending time together with his in-laws. Sooner or later, Harman, an avid outdoorsman, will return to his farm in south Georgia. There is a new 105-hp tractor ready for him. When a reporter requested how a lot he’d spent on the tractor, he declined to say.

“I have not advised my spouse how a lot I spent on it but,” Harman joked.

Thankfully for Harman, he collected a $3 million winner’s examine. He moved to No. 10 within the Official World Golf Rating, his highest rating ever, and is anticipated to be third within the U.S. Ryder Cup crew factors standings. The highest six gamers within the standings after the BMW Championship on Aug. 20 will mechanically qualify for the American crew that may compete in opposition to Europe at Marco Simone Golf and Nation Membership exterior Rome on Sept. 29-Oct. 1. Harman will greater than possible be on the crew.

“I believe he’ll be phenomenal,” Todd mentioned. “He can be phenomenal as a result of his kind is nice and if he is placing like this, he will pound someone.”

After ready for his former school teammate to win once more, Todd believes this would possibly catapult Harman’s profession.

“Him with solely two wins was stunning to me, but it surely’s exhausting,” Todd mentioned. “And who is aware of? Perhaps this would be the lid that comes off and he wins 10 extra.”