Think that’s the rarest of blunders? Think again. The potential for having an extra club in your bag is real, whether you’re a tour pro or an average golfer.
American Brian Harman produced a stunning six-shot victory to lift his maiden major title at the Open Championship, the year’s final men’s major, at Royal Liverpool. In capturing his third PGA Tour win, the 36-year-old became only the fifth left-hander to triumph in a major championship and he achieved the feat in style by outclassing a world-class field with some terrific golf over the weekend, which was played under treacherous links weather.
Good for you, Brian. You are now the Champion Golfer of the Year, and as Cameron Smith was tearfully reminded last week, you’ve only got a year before you have to give that special trophy back. So drink up.
Harman has devised an entire strategy around what he can do best: win around the corners. It has led to 12-year career on the PGA Tour and wins at every level he’s played. And now, an Open championship victory.
The ice-cool left-hander, who took a five-shot lead into the final round and won by six, doesn’t plan on his life evolving too much now that he’s the Champion Golfer of the Year.
Beneath that veneer of positivity, there must surely linger some doubt. What does the Belfast boy need to do to turn things round? It is obvious: he needs to putt better.
Jason Day leads the Australian hopes of winning a second Open Championship in a row by a golfer from Down Under having clung to contention on day three at Royal Liverpool.
With Brian Harman sitting five strokes clear at the top of the leaderboard early Saturday morning, many UK golf fans were finally forced to learn who the hell Brian Harman is. He’s a lefty. He looks like a former Australian cricket captain.
Royal Liverpool has been defenceless in the early going of Round 3, the byproduct of wet confines and little rain. But the course does have one curveball to throw at the field:
In football terms, the language of the Liverpool galleries, Tommy Fleetwood’s five-shot deficit through 36 holes to Brian Harman at the Open Championship is not unlike his beloved Everton FC being a few goals down at halftime in a home game at Goodison Park. It’s not ideal, but it’s not ever either.
Australian Golf Digest
