Brian Harman, the patient hunter who won the Open

Few golfers break the mold like Brian Harman (Savannah, Georgia, 1987), right-handed in everything except sports, an athlete only 1.70 meters tall, an amateur hunter — whose trophies on social networks are interspersed with videos of the best shots on the field — and little known to the general public even though he is number 26 in the world. Since Sunday, when he wrapped up his British Open victory – six strokes ahead of Jon Rahm, Tom Kim, Sepp Straka and Jason Day – at four under par, the golf world is amazed that he only had two titles in his entire careerwhen, in addition, he contested play FedEx Cup Big Words.

These days, Harman explained that his hunting background also helps him with golf. Patience, persistence, waiting for the right moment. That it came, and in what way at the British Open in Royal Liverpool. Not only does the champion have his own reserve — reportedly more than 150,000 square meters — but his family subsists mostly on what they catch. Harman hunts with a bow, targeting game within 115 feet, he said in Hoylake.

After returning from the most profitable trip to Europe in his life – he won a prize of three million dollars – he is looking forward to trying out one of his latest acquisitions on his farm, a tractor. Fishing hobby, nature lover and proud villager, rollerblading greens from the Royal Liverpool, with the shortest stick in the bag.

The champion needed only 106 putts in his 72 holes at the British Open, the lowest record in the last 20 years. He hit 58 of 59 from under 10 feet.

“While he was there to win, he knew how to finish. He has a very good short game and competed very well,” Rahm praised., one of the rivals who opposed him above all with a great round of 63 on Saturday. But that wasn’t enough to seal a comeback on Sunday. “He has a competitive edge, something extra that pushes him when he’s up,” added the Spanish player.

Victory at Hoylake catapults Harman from 26th in the world rankings to 10th.steer into noble territory and already become a candidate for the role of Ryder in the fall.

Right-handed for everything except baseball and golf

Being left-handed complicates the golfer’s journey, starting with purchasing special equipment. In all of history, only 15 non-right-handed players have won a PGA Tour title., and Harman’s victory reduces the list to five at “grand slams”. They are complemented by Bob Charles at the British Open in 1963, Phil Mickelson at the same tournament in 2013, Mike Weir at Augusta in 2003 and Bubba Watson also at the Masters in 2012 and 2014.

Exception

Although he is right-handed for everything, he is not for sports. Harman started his baseball exception: he threw the ball right-handed, but swung the bat left-handed. The same thing happened when he started playing golf at the age of 11. An anomaly reminiscent of Rafa Nadal’sright-handed for everything in everyday life except for tennis, in which he competes left-handed.

The disdain that fueled the champions’ fury on Saturday

Harman alternated between golf and baseball until he was 14, when he made his definitive choice. Brilliant as an amateur, he formed kick member of the University of Georgia golf team, and has taken all the steps that lead to stardom: US Junior Amateur Champion, Players Amateur Winner, member of US Amateur teams in top format team competitions game to play… He became a professional in 2010. and his tremendous regularity, always among the best, wasn’t enough to win him more than two PGA Tour titles until last weekend, the 2014 John Deere Classic and the 2017 Wells Fargo.

In the last five years, he has achieved a remarkable record of his ability to stand out without culminating in headlines on Sunday. He was the player with the most top-5 finishes in PGA Tour events without winning a title. Everything turned around during his fantastic week at Royal Liverpool, where he defended his leadership from Friday. Even the rain didn’t stop him in Hoylake, which changed his routine because he doesn’t normally perform in a diving suit.

Everything fed his motivation there, even some outright contempt, as he admitted at his press conference on Sunday. “After I did the second one bugbear yesterday (Saturday, on the 4th hole) some guy said to me as I was passing ‘Harman, you don’t have the balls for this’; and that helped me.” Did that motivate you, the journalist asked. “Yes, it helped me a lot. I thought, this is… Never mind. Anyway, it helped me. And I thought: I am good enough for this, to achieve this; so I’ll continue on my way and the next hit will be good. I want to say that I clicked there,” he commented moments before Saturday’s reaction after an indecisive start.

LIV Golf, one of four

The first full season of the battle between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour — now closed by an interim agreement between those responsible for both courses — ends with victory in the majors of three players from the North American calendar and one from the Arab. Brooks Koepka became a big emblem of LIV by winning the PGA, while Rahm, Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman entered the Masters, the US Open and the British Open.