Brian Harman: the tough nut that refused to crack

True grit: Harman’s doggedness enabled him to turn back every challenge at the British Open, from big names to foul weather, as he took his place in history. | Photo credit: Getty Images

Short game mastery: Harman proved that the old adage ‘drives are for show and putts are for dough’ still applies. His magic touch on the greens kept him out of reach. | Photo credit: Getty Images

Last Saturday, when he made two bogeys in four holes and his British Open lead over Jon Rahm was down to two, Brian Harman smashed a 3-wood onto the green at the par-5 fifth for a birdie. 

It was on that hole, on that day, that the 36-year-old American said he heard a spectator say, “Harman, you don’t have the stones for this.” The derisive taunt was sweet music to the diminutive lefty with Georgia grit and something to prove — to himself and anyone watching.

For, nothing motivates Harman like being told he can’t do something. “If they wanted me to not play well, they should have been really nice to me,” he said with a smile.

Chip on his shoulder

It’s an attitude three-time Major winner Padraig Harrington appreciatively describes as the “perfect chip on his shoulder”. “I think Brian Harman is a very dogged person. Nearly every day he goes out on the golf course like he’s playing with a chip on his shoulder, like he’s fighting something,” said Harrington. “He’s a great player but is ignored just because he doesn’t fit the mould, doesn’t look the part. But he’s a tough nut, I can tell you that.”

Harman’s pluck enabled him to turn back every challenge at the British Open, from big names to foul weather, as he took his place in history among Major champions. Next to Harman on a table last Sunday evening was the silver claret jug, the oldest trophy in golf, his name now engraved on the base. “To win what I consider is the greatest prize in golf, it’s as good as it gets,” he said.

It was not a triumph experts and bookmakers saw coming. Indeed, few of the thousands of fans who huddled under a sea of umbrellas on the final day would have tipped the World No. 26 to win before the tournament. Harman had gone 167 events over six years without tasting victory on the PGA Tour. His last win came at the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship. Now Harman is the 11th different champion in 12 Majors over the past three years.

The victory shone a light on what it takes to win a golf Major — of how challenging, even improbable, an ambition it is for a majority of golfers, of the number of things that need to align for the perfect moment to appear, and of how this can come after years of failure. But unless players believe that their moment is out there and are ready to step up when it presents itself, all the effort, the training, the sacrifices they have endured will fall short.

Harman had let the 2017 US Open slip from his grasp after leading the tournament at the end of round three, stumbling to a closing 72 as Brooks Koepka shot 67 to win by four strokes. But he was determined to prevent a repeat of that result at Royal Liverpool.

“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. I’m 36 years old. Game is getting younger. All these young guys coming out hit it a mile and they’re all ready to win. Like, when is it going to be my turn again? 

Getting over the hump

“Someone mentioned that I’ve had more top-10s than anyone since 2017, so that’s a lot of times you’re like, ‘Damn it, man, I had that one.’ It just didn’t happen for whatever reason. To come out and put a performance like that together … I don’t know why this week, but I’m very thankful that it was this week.”

The surprise was that Harman didn’t have a history of this kind of performance on the professional tour, given his success and reputation as an amateur. 

“I had a lot of success as a junior golfer,” Harman said. “I won the US Junior, and then as an amateur I was the No. 1 ranked amateur in the world for a good while, was the youngest American to get picked for the Walker Cup. I had success. Like, I had the pedigree. 

“Then I got to college and it just kind of sputtered a little bit. I just didn’t keep up with the progression. My pro career has been really good at times and not good at times. Last year felt like I kind of found something a little bit, and yeah, man, I’m just… I don’t know. It’s been great.”

So what did Harman do to put himself in a position to embrace his moment? 

For four days in sunshine and rain, short sleeves and rain suits, Harman hit into only three bunkers at Royal Liverpool, the key to scoring. He took only 106 putts, key to any golf course. Off the tee, he rarely missed his mark. And between the ears, he was as strong as ever.

He proved that the old adage ‘drives are for show and putts are for dough’ still applies; his magic touch on the greens kept him out of reach. He found a new putting aid that helped him stop hooking his putts and delivered an astonishing performance. 

At 36, he is the oldest first-time Major winner since Sergio Garcia, who was 37 when he won the Masters in 2017. But the fascination with Harman at the British Open had little to do with his golf  in the early running. All anyone seemed to care about was his life as an outdoorsman: he has a hunting estate and spends his spare time with crossbows or on tractors. One tabloid called him “Brian the Butcher.” Another headline screamed, “I Shoot to Thrill.”

Layers like an onion

“I’ve got a lot of layers, man, I’m like an onion,” Harman said before explaining how hunting had taught him “patience and strategy” for his sport. “Someone once told me one time you should do the things that make you lose track of time, and for me, a lot of times when I’m practising hitting balls or putting, I lose track of time. That’s how I know that I really enjoy it. Hunting is something else that makes me lose track of time.”

He is looking forward to enjoying his triumph on the new tractor he has just purchased — a portion of his $3 million prize money is set to finance the impulse buy — but he certainly will not be putting his feet up and bathing in the glow of his new-found status as Major champion.

Harman now has a five-year exemption in all the Majors and can also think about a return to Europe in September for the Ryder Cup in Rome. The victory moves him comfortably to No. 3 in the standings; the top six a month from now automatically qualify. Harman has never played in a Ryder Cup before. He also moved to No. 10 in the world. This is new territory. But over four days at Royal Liverpool, he certainly looked like he belonged.