Bald! Yuck! The 36-year-old earned his first major victory by winning The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool on Sunday with a score of -13.
Shoutout to Brian Harman on his major win across at the pond at Hoylake, England.
Harman, nestled atop the leaderboard at Royal Liverpool Golf Club since Friday, made a methodical march on Sunday to win the British Open by six strokes, finishing at 13 under par. With a final round defined more by get-it-done grit than star-turn splash, Harman held off a band of challengers whose tournament scores wound up swarmed around each other’s instead of close to his. It was the largest margin of victory at a men’s golf major tournament since Bryson DeChambeau’s six-stroke win at the 2020 U.S. Open.
“I’ve always had a self-belief that I could do something like this,” Harman said. “It’s just when it takes so much time, it’s hard not to let your mind falter, like maybe I’m not winning again.”
Gray skies and rain filled the course on Sunday, but Harman was comfortable, as his lead never shrunk to less than four shots on the day. He was in full control of his own destiny, and wound up winning by six. It was a fairly boring Major Championship, in my opinion. It is baffling to see some of the long hitters who dominate on US soil, head to the Open Championship and struggle to break par, or make the cut.
The victory was Harman’s third on Tour, and his first since the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship. He had not performed well at the previous three majors this year, missing the cut at both the Masters and PGA Championship before finishingT43 at the U.S. Open.
Harman should keep his passport handy because he's likely going to Rome. Points and world rankings aside, there's no way Harman should be left off the team after taking home the Claret Jug and jumping to No. 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking. The Georgia native was 20th in the Ryder Cup rankings heading into the week, and now he'll surely make a sizable leap and become a fixture on the team in September, when Marco Simone Golf Club should fit his eye and his game well.
"I enjoy match play," Harman said Sunday while refusing to handicap his chances of making the team. "I've done well in all the match-play tournaments I've played in. Had a really good junior record and amateur record in match play. I enjoy the head-to-head competition."
Special shoutout to friend of the blog and a close personal friend of mine, Max Homa. He has struggled throughout his career in majors, but was able to finish T-10th today and seemed to have gained some momentum and confidence in a weekend round during a major championship.
I also predicted Rory would not win. McIlroy's major drought will reach a 10th year – his last came at the 2014 Open, also at Royal Liverpool. He finished T6 at six-under after T7 and second-place finishes at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open, respectively – he missed the cut at the Masters.
Few more weeks left of golf for some guys to make their case to be on the Ryder Cup team, or to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs.
