Skinning deer at age eight and the world’s best golfers skinning at age 36. Whatever the people of this country may say about Brian Harman’s hobbies, there can be no doubt about the greatness with which this 200-1 shot became the winner of Sunday night’s 151st Open Championship.
He finished this tournament in much the same way he had dominated it – by rolling in the kind of putt bigger men with bigger names had been missing all week.
When the ball dropped after its final eight-foot travel, Harman clenched his right fist and was just about the happiest man ever to stand in soggy grass in the pouring rain.
But by then there was no surprise. Not anymore.
There had been when he was one of the lead on Thursday, and more so as he rose to five clear through rounds two and three. That whole time we waited for him to fall, to give in to the pressure of his circumstances, but when he hit that last putt, he had already ripped this field apart.
American golfer Brian Harman won the first major of his career at the Open on Sunday
His pressuring style was fantastic as he took down challenges from some of the biggest names in the sport
His last profit margin? A pretty amazing six strokes, that’s the difference between his total of 13 under par and the quartet of Jon Rahm, Sepp Straka, Jason Day and Tom Kim behind him. Daylight in the worst weather.
Since 1913, only one man has won The Open by more than that and that was Tiger Woods. Harman is now alongside him and Rory McIlroy as a recent championship winner on these famous Hoylake links.
The temptation here will be to talk about an underdog story, because outside the ropes of his sport, Harman is completely anonymous.
That might explain the intrigue and grimace this side of the Atlantic in the discussions of his love of hunting, complete with some gruesome photos of his conquests.
But as the world No. 26, his arrival on the winner’s podium shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a bolt from the blue – it’s nothing like Ben Curtis did in 2003. And yet it’s still pretty surprising, as he hasn’t won on the PGA Tour in six years and has only been in the top-10 twice at a major, including his second-place finish at the 2017 US Open.
He told us this week how he allowed himself to be overpowered by that opportunity, but here his composure was best expressed in the sheer brilliance of his putting. For so long golf has complained about the scourge of hard hitting, but this was a victory built on the flat stick.
Indeed, for driving distance, this unimposing chap at 5ft 7ins was nowhere near the top 100, but on those crucial 10ft and in putts he made 58 out of 59. In a major championship, that is extremely remarkable.
With the Claret Jug perched beside him, after wiping the tears from his eyes after a closing round of 70, Harman said, “I always had the confidence that I could do something like that. It’s just when it takes so much time that it’s hard not to let your mind reel. I am 36 years old and the game is getting younger and younger.
The 36-year-old said after the win that he ‘always had the confidence to do something like that’
He started to dominate with a brilliant second round that put him five strokes clear on top
“It’s been hard to deal with. I think someone said I’ve had more top 10s (on the PGA Tour) than anyone else since 2017, so those are a lot of times when you’re like, “Damn, man”.
“For whatever reason, it didn’t happen. I don’t know why this week, but I’m very thankful it was.’
Sometimes golf has a habit of delivering those weeks. For McIlroy, the question is when another one will be in a major.
He needs no reminder that his wait for a fifth-place finish will now drag on into a 10th year, which may dominate his thoughts more than any satisfaction from yet another good placement – his final round of 68 took him six under par and tied for sixth.
That’s nice in itself, but he missed way too many putts during the tournament, begging the familiar question of whether the missing piece is technical or mental.
Tommy Fleetwood will also regret – his opening 66 was sublime, but to finish with a 72, brought on by a nightmarish triple bogey on 17 on Sunday, had played the last three rounds in one over. The 31-year-old Englishman’s curse on The Open lives on.
Not that anyone could have caught Harman on Sunday. In circumstances not conducive to low scores, the pursuers could only hope for a capitulation not seen since Jean van der Velde in 1999. It did not happen.
Tommy Fleetwood will regret not being able to build on a brilliant 66 in the opening round
Sepp Straka (left) and John Rahm (right) both threatened to pressure Harman, but could not match his steely temper
Even as Harman wobbled bogeys on two and five, cutting his five-point lead overnight to three over Rahm, who had birdied the fifth, he responded with consecutive birdies of 13 feet and 23 feet on six and seven.
Another bogey came on the par-three 13th, when he missed his only short putt of the week, but again he followed up by winning shots on the next two holes. He was a machine and Rahm was not – after that early birdie, the Spaniard played his last 13 holes in even par.
Other small nudges came from Straka, an Austrian Ryder Cup hopeful who finished off a fantastic tournament with a 69, and the brilliant Korean Tom Kim, who shot 67.
They earned their share of second place. But they would never hunt the hunter.