At this weekend’s The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, American golfer Brian Harman held a five-stroke lead after 36 holes, and never surrendered that. Harman continued to lead by five after Saturday’s third round, which put him in elite company.
In the last 25 years at majors, there had only been seven cases of a golfer leading by five shots or more after 54 holes. Of those cases, only Jean Van de Velde in 1999 at the British Open failed to win: his five-shot lead evaporated in a famous meltdown, and he lost in a three-way playoff. But Harman was no Van de Velde Sunday, instead joining Brooks Koepka, Martin Kaymer, Rory McIlroy (twice), and Tiger Woods (twice) in hanging on to that lead. He even built on it, shooting a final-round one-under 70 in rainy conditions Sunday to claim the Claret Jug with a six-shot victory:
Mastery of the elements.
Brian Harman claims a supreme six stroke victory at Hoylake.
A magnificent performance. pic.twitter.com/Ic3HRsF5my
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 23, 2023
With that victory, Harman made some more history. He was the only golfer in almost nine decades to lead by five or more after each round at the Open Championship:
Brian Harman led by at least 5 shots after each of the final 3 rounds at #TheOpen.
He's the first player to do that since Henry Cotton in 1934. pic.twitter.com/izOksAP8Xs
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 23, 2023
And he was the first U.S.-born golfer to win The Open by at least six since Tiger Woods in 2000:
Brian Harman claims The Open Championship!
He becomes the first U.S.-born golfer to win the tournament by at least six strokes since Tiger Woods in 2000 🏆 pic.twitter.com/WZMDYJD7IX
— ESPN (@espn) July 23, 2023
The 36-year-old Harman, who played collegiately at the University of Georgia before turning pro in 2010, quoted Bulldogs’ football coach Kirby Smart early in the day Sunday:
Starting the final round of The Open with a 5-shot lead, Brian Harman tells @GolfChannel he kept "thinking about something Kirby Smart said, 'I'm not going to be hunted. Imma hunt.'"
— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) July 23, 2023
And he certainly did hunt there, succeeding despite the weather en route to that six-shot victory. (And impressing NBC with his pre-shot waggles along the way.) Harman hadn’t won on the PGA Tour since 2017, but this result may have him poised for more success ahead.
