British Open | Brian Harman’s lackluster triumph

The 151^e edition of the British Open will certainly not 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 with a six-stroke lead.

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 recommended by the left-hander has nothing spectacular or particularly entertaining. At the same time, with a five-stroke lead at the start of 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 cumulative score of -13 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.

In fact, that’s a bit of the story of this 2023 season in major tournaments. Each of the tournaments fell victim to the whims of Mother Nature. Of course, that’s part of the game. But it’s seriously detrimental to the progress and the conditions of tournaments of such magnitude.

Harman himself has never been intimidated, and the poor conditions will certainly have worked in his favor. None of his pursuers did better than a 67, by far insufficient to make him tremble at least.

“This course was a real test”, he indicated in the rain, holding the trophy, in front of the soaked crowd of the 18^e hole.

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 flawless on the greens. These were huge, soaking wet and intimidating, but it looked so simple for the 36-year-old.

“The greens were perfect. The quality of the pitch was excellent,” he said.

After a bogey on the fifth hole, he came back strong with two very long birdies. Ditto on the back nine. Following a foul on 13^ehe replied with two birdies, including one from the rim at 14^e. 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. During his march towards the 18^e green, the crowd also held back, although in the end, they were heard. Not because it was Harman, but because it was 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.

Since the start of the week, fans have been criticizing Harman’s slowness and mania for getting over his ball dozens of times before hitting.

This edition will not mark the imagination, and even if all the triumphs are historic, this one will be a little less so.

Ignore the pressure

However, we must recognize how solid Harman has been, especially given the quality of the golfers in the chasing group.

Harman had never won a major title. He had just two wins in 335 PGA Tour events and his last win was in 2017.

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 if five players shared second position at -6 when the point guard arrived at the ninth hole, he still had an amazing six-stroke lead.

This suspenseless triumph is reminiscent of that of Dustin Johnson at the Masters Tournament in 2020.

Far behind

In a few years, looking again at the final ranking, one might wonder how the 26^e world-ranked player did to get away with it, considering the horde of talented golfers were unable to reach 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 top 10 final. The competition was fierce and Harman never broke. He didn’t even bend.

In McIlroy’s case, he posted a 68 on Sunday for second place going into the final round. Whoever 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 28^e 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 tournament. Which is to say, way too much.