Most golf fans were thoroughly interested in watching the 2023 Open Championship. Much less attention came to another PGA Tour event, the Barracuda Championship, which also concluded on Sunday.
These two tournaments couldn’t have been more different, but had one striking similarity at the end.
PGA Tour veteran Brian Harman dominated the Open Championship field, cruising to a victory with a six-stroke lead over the second-place competitors.
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
Meanwhile, 21-year-old golfer Akshay Bhatia recorded his first PGA Tour victory at the Barracuda Championship, winning in a playoff over Patrick Rodgers.
The winning moment for @AkshayBhatia_1 @CudaChamp 🏆 pic.twitter.com/CELETWRkpK
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 24, 2023
On paper, Harman and Bhatia don’t have a lot in common. Harman has been playing professional golf since Bhatia was in grade school.
However, the two share the one distinction that made PGA Tour history on Sunday, becoming the only pair of lefty golfers to win a PGA Tour event in the same week.
About 7 hours after Brian Harman won The Open, Akshay Bhatia won the Barracuda Championship in a playoff.
This is the first time in PGA TOUR history that two left-handed golfers have won in the same week. pic.twitter.com/hKFl5xeNO6
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) July 24, 2023
Fans at home took notice of this and were very happy that lefty golfers across the world were represented well by these two on Sunday.
Southpaws babyyyyyyyy https://t.co/NLbUnwZhbL
— a s h l e y 🦩 (@WOFFlehouse) July 24, 2023
LETS GO LEFTYSSSSS JUST LIKE ME https://t.co/pvWUAcT3fD
— Arthur Morgan (@Mvchiavelli_2) July 24, 2023
Lefties 🤚🏽and Golf⛳️ and hardware 🏆- We coming !!! @CoryBeckham5 @BrianStricklan6 https://t.co/YwsdZiY4rK
— Michael Villarreal 🏈🏀⚾ (@Mikeyv323) July 24, 2023
Lefties unite! https://t.co/82Er0a1TXv
— Aaron Vickers (@AAVickers) July 24, 2023
Love the lefty representation 🥹 https://t.co/FUoSSgKo8J
— Bax (@bbbaxter53) July 24, 2023
— Chris Trahant (@ctreypants710) July 24, 2023
According to a 2018 report from The PGA of America, only approximately five percent of PGA Tour players are left-handed. That number may be slightly different in 2023, but right-handed golfers still undoubtedly make up the large majority of PGA Tour golfers.
Two lefties winning on the same day on the PGA Tour is certainly not something that fans were expecting coming into these tournaments, and it may be quite some time until we see this happen again.
