(Hoylake) Over a 12-year career on the PGA Tour, Brian Harman has two victories in 335 tournaments. He’s one round away from one of the most coveted titles in professional golf.
Harman overcame a tough start to the day at the British Open on Saturday, then delivered a consistent performance en route to a two-under-par 69 card.
With his aggregate score of 201, 12 under par on the fairways of Royal Liverpool where the left-handed golfer seems to be doing everything right, Harman holds a five stroke lead over Cameron Young, his closest rival.
PHOTO PETER MORRISON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brian Harman
As the final act on Saturday, Harman wedged an eight-foot par putt before gently clenching his fist in satisfaction. So if Young, Jon Rahm or any other golfer hopes to catch him on Sunday, the task has become more difficult.
Ontarian Corey Conners, the only Canadian to have crossed the qualification threshold, signed a card of 68, but his loss on the leader is 11 strokes.
A runner-up at St. Andrews a year ago, Young pulled off a superb shot from a bunker at 18e hole. He concluded the hole, and his day, with a routine birdie and a score of 66 which will allow him to evolve within the last group on Sunday.
No one was more spectacular than Rahm, who birdied seven in his last 10 holes en route to a record round 63 at Royal Liverpool in the British Open.
No one had done better than 65 at Hoylake and yet Rahm is down six strokes, alone in third place.
By keeping his ball on the grass, instead of the bunkers, and rarely out of position, Harman made the gap look even bigger.
“I had a difficult start, but I raised the bar,” analyzed the 36-year-old American. “I hit a lot of good shots down the stretch. […] I was there trying to get the best shot possible on every attempt, and at that level I did well. »
On Saturday, Harman played with local star Tommy Fleetwood, who grew up in Southport, 45 minutes from the Lancashire coast, and enjoyed the support of a raucous crowd.
Spectators reacted strongly when Harman bogeyed on the first hole, and again when he overshot the green on the fourth hole for another bogey.
Suddenly his lead had gone from five strokes to two strokes. Then the picture changed again.
Harman first birdied the par-5 fifth hole. He completed the front nine with a tee shot that landed four feet from the goal, for another birdie. Then, he opened the machine and added consecutive birdies to the 12e and 13e holes, the second thanks to a putt from a distance of 20 feet.
History favors Harman. Jean Van de Velde is the last player to go into the final round of a major tournament with a five-stroke lead without emerging victorious. It was at Carnoustie, in 1999, the scene of one of the most incomprehensible triple bogeys at 72e hole of a Grand Slam tournament.
“I feel like he’s not one to back down,” Young said of Harman. “With the lead he has at the moment, it won’t necessarily depend on me tomorrow. It’s time for me to focus on myself and see where it will take me. »
The day was very disappointing for several other golfers, starting with Rory McIlroy.
The Northern Irishman started his round with three birdies over the first five holes — he couldn’t convert 10-foot and 12-foot putts that would have earned him birdies on the other two holes — and seemed destined to post the kind of score Rahm had achieved earlier in the day.
However, McIlroy added no more birdies and the end of his round was particularly painful, missing putts for eight-foot, 12-foot and 10-foot birdies. For the second time this week, he chose not to meet the reporters, instead heading to the practice green.
McIlroy has shot 69 and is nine strokes behind, suggesting he will have to wait nine months to end his long and painful nine-year drought without Grand Slam triumphs.
Rahm started his day 12 shots behind and at the very least he has a chance.
He delivered a dynamic performance, not bogey in the morning rain which then gave way to wet and windy conditions.
“It’s the best round I’ve played on a links-type course,” Rahm said.
Fleetwood had to settle for a score of 71, which leaves him in the group of players with a score of 208 – seven shots from the leader – which also includes Jason Day (69), Viktor Hovland (66), Sepp Straka (70) and Antoine Rozner (67).
Harman is in full control as he looks for his first triumph since the Wells Fargo Championship in 2017. He has been consistent on and off the course and avoids pushing too hard.
“I have 18 holes left,” he recalled.