Harman Makes History, Wins The Open By Six | Sunday Swing

Welcome back to a major championship edition of the Sunday Swing. This week the spotlight was on the oldest golf tournament in the world -- the Open Championship, played this year at the iconic Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

The Open - Tournament History 

The Open Championship is the oldest men's golf championship in the world, and a personal favorite among many golf fans. Dating back all the way to 1860, The Open is hosted by a rotation of 10 different links style courses throughout Scotland, England, and Ireland. These courses feature rolling hills, wispy and long fescue, massive greens, and penalizing pot bunkers. With no trees to defend these courses, The Open is often played under extremely windy and rainy conditions that can control the scoring and the shots required by players to compete. 

Royal Liverpool is the host club for the 2023 Open, a course that opened over 150 years ago and boasts a remarkable history. The most recent Open champions at Royal Liverpool include Tiger Woods (2006), Rory McIlroy (2014), and, now, Brian Harman.

The Big Swing - Brian Harman 

This week the Big Swing belongs to the veteran, Brian Harman. The headlines leading up to the tournament focused heavily on Rory McIlroy who was coming off of a win at the Scottish Open the week prior and looking to end his nine-year major drought. McIlroy has had plenty of chances of late, finishing inside the top-10 in seven of his last 10 major starts. Cameron Smith, who had recently won himself, was looking to successfully defend his title from last year. 

Hometown hero Tommy Fleetwood entered in great form and was hoping to ride the support from the crowd to his first major title. Meanwhile, could a resurgent Rickie Fowler (runner-up to McIlroy here in 2014) finally win a major? Can Scottie Scheffler keep his ridiculous streak of top 12’s alive? So much of the media discourse surrounded these discussions. Few of them, if any, thought to discuss Harman.

The 36-year-old lefty flew under the radar as the No. 26 player in the world, recording finishes of T12, T9, and T2 in his last three starts. Harman’s major record prior to this week was nothing to scoff at either. Seven top-25s and three top-10s, including a top 10 at last year's Open, put his major resume above most players in the field. And this week, Harman played much bigger than his 5-foot-7 frame, using precision and spectacular putting to rise to the top. 

Fleetwood, amateur Christo Lamprecht, and recent winner Emiliano Grillo all shared the 18-hole lead at five-under-par 66. Harman’s 67 put him behind by one, while McIlroy struggled to salvage an even par 71. Many other household names, such as Scheffler, PGA champion Brooks Koepka, and US Open champion Wyndham Clark, lurked inside the top 20.

Conditions on Friday remained fairly benign and Harman took full advantage of it. He made birdies at holes 2, 3, 4, and 5 to jump into a big lead at -8. After making par on the next 12 holes, Harman then hit the par-5 18th green in two and sank the eagle putt for a round of 65 that put him at -10 for the championship. Fleetwood shot even par to remain at -5 as the nearest competitor to Harman, but still, several big names were ready to pounce on the weekend. 

On Saturday the course was gettable again, and Alex Fitzpatrick (younger brother of 2022 US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick) was the first to make a big move after making seven birdies for 65. World No. 3 Jon Rahm barely made the cut at +2 thru 36 holes, but carded a bogey-free 63 including a back-nine 30, to move all the way inside the top five. At six-under-par, Rahm suddenly posed a serious threat. Meanwhile, in the final group off on Saturday, Harman bogeyed No. 1 and two early birdies by Fleetwood closed the gap to two shots momentarily. However, Harman quickly made it up with birdies on Nos. 5 and 9 to turn in even par. He’d add two more birdies on the back nine for a 69 and a 54-hole score of 12-under-par. Cameron Young, runner-up last year at St. Andrews, carded a five-under-par 66 to slide into second place at -7 through 54 holes, while Fleetwood and Rahm led a host of others right behind Young.

Rain fell for pretty much the entirety of Sunday in Hoylake. Players were faced with a wet, soft course that played much differently than the first three days. McIlroy, who entered the final round at -3, made some noise early with a string of three birdies at Nos. 3-5 to move to -6. However, he couldn’t keep the momentum going, and he remained at -6 when he holed out his final putt of the tournament. Similar to Saturday, Harman got off to a shaky start with a couple of early bogeys that closed the gap. But his lead was quickly rejuvenated with huge birdies at Nos. 6 and 7 to extend it once again. The British golf fans continued to cheer for the American’s downfall as a host of European Ryder Cup team members trailed. But Harman kept plugging away, making solid par after solid par. It may have been "boring" golf, but it was exactly the kind of performance required to hold a lead on Sunday at The Open.

A bogey at No. 13 was immediately followed by birdies at Nos. 14 and 15, which increased the lead to six shots and effectively ended the tournament. Three solid pars coming in gave Harman his first major victory in commanding fashion.

Perhaps the most remarkable part of Harman’s win was the putter. He made 58 of his 59 putt attempts from inside 10 feet for the week – a truly surreal display of putting. 

Winner’s Bag - Brian Harman 

Brian Harman had only won twice on the PGA Tour before this weekend, but he had a great history on links courses and recorded three straight Top 12 finishes entering The Open Championship. And yet, the 36-year-old Titleist staffer flew under the radar. He's no longer an afterthought after a six-shot victory at Royal Liverpool thanks to excellent ball striking and remarkable putting. Off the tee, Harman games a previous generation Titleist TSi2 driver (9 degrees) and pairs it with a TSi2 3-wood (13.5 degrees). He also plays a unique combo iron set that includes a pair of Titleist U-500 utility irons (3 & 4) and a set of Titleist 620 CB irons (5-PW). His wedge game is powered by a trio of Vokey SM9s (50, 54, and 60 degrees). The putter that got it done this week was a TaylorMade Spider OS CB, which Harman has used for many years. After making the final putt of the tournament, he carried it with him all the way to the scorer's tent, rightfully so after that putting performance.