The 151st edition of the British Open will certainly never go down in the annals of golf. However, for Brian Harman, it will remain memorable. The American took top honors in the last major tournament of the season on Sunday, thanks to a gap of six shots.
If the name of Brian Harman meant very little to some golf fans, he will now be presented as a major tournament winner.
Unfortunately for these same amateurs, this tournament will not have been the most exciting.
On the one hand, because the game advocated by the left-hander has nothing spectacular or particularly entertaining. At the same time, with a five-stroke lead going into the final round, just about every player at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club would have used a strategy as conservative as that employed by the American. He turned in an honest, but sufficient -1 (70) card in the final round, for a -13 cumulative score for the entire tournament.
On the other hand, the weather completely ruined any chance for his pursuers to break free and thus join Harman, alone at the top of a slippery and damaged mountain, impossible to overcome.
Harman has never been intimidated and the poor conditions will certainly have worked in his favor. None of his pursuers did better than a 67, far insufficient to make him tremble at least.
“This course was a real test,” he said in the rain, holding the trophy in front of the drenched crowd on 18th.
Between his last putt and entering the officials’ office, he never let go of his putter. He walked for many minutes with his favorite stick in hand.
Harman was nothing short of impeccable on the greens. These were huge, soaked and intimidating, but it looked so simple for the 36-year-old.
“The greens were perfect. The quality of the pitch was excellent,” he continued.
After a bogey on the fifth hole, he came back strong with two very long birdies. Ditto on the back nine. Following a foul in the 13th, he replied with two birdies, including one from the border in the 14th. At this point his name could begin to be engraved on the Claret Jug.
The whole round took place in a rather polite atmosphere. At his presentation on the first mound, he had to turn up the volume on his television to hear the applause. As they marched to the 18th green, the crowd also held back, though eventually they were vocal. Not because it was about Harman, but because it was about the champion.
Between the two, almost no spectators followed the pair he formed with Cameron Young. Everyone had it for Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm.
This edition will not mark the imagination, and even if all the triumphs are historic, this one will be a little less so.
However, we must recognize how solid Harman has been, especially given the quality of the golfers in the chasing group.
Behind him, Jason Day, Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy were all chasing another major title. And Harman did not flinch.
His round on Friday will undoubtedly have been the most decisive. With a score of 65, he had given himself an exceptionally comfortable priority.
He then widened this gap a little more each day. So even though five players shared the second position at -6 when the point guard arrived at the ninth hole, he still had an astonishing lead of six shots.
This uneventful triumph is reminiscent of Dustin Johnson’s at the 2020 Masters Tournament.
Years from now, looking back at the final standings, one might wonder how the 26th-ranked player in the world did not shoot, considering the horde of talented golfers who were unable to join him.
Behind him, Tom Kim, Sepp Straka, Day and Rahm all tied for second at -7.
Not to mention McIlroy (-6), Cameron Young (-5) and Max Homa (-4), all members of the final top 10.
The competition was fierce and Harman never broke. He didn’t even bend.
In McIlroy’s case, by the way, he turned in a 68 on Sunday, second overall going into the final round.
The one who started the tournament with the status of favorite finishes in the top 10 of a major tournament for the third time in a row. In 54 career appearances, this is his 28th top 10.
However, his game on the greens was still too random. In the final round on Sunday, he missed as many putts as he came close to winning a major. Which is to say, way too much.
