Brian Harman holds nerve to win Open by six shots at rainy Hoylake
Brian Harman celebrates winning The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool (David Davies/PA).
American Brian Harman survived an early scare to claim his first major title in dominant fashion on a rain-soaked final day of the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.
Harman’s five-shot overnight lead was briefly cut to three as he covered the first five holes in two over par in miserable conditions, but the 36-year-old responded superbly to regain his vice-like grip on the Claret Jug.
Brian Harman attempts to search for his ball in the bushes during day four of The Open at Royal Liverpool (David Davies/PA).
A victory made possible by a stunning 65 on Friday – the joint-lowest score in a Hoylake Open until Jon Rahm’s Saturday 63 – was sealed with gritty rounds of 69 and 70 for a total of 13 under par and six-shot win over Rahm, Jason Day, Sepp Straka and Tom Kim.
Rory McIlroy and Emiliano Grillo finished another stroke back, with home favourite Tommy Fleetwood and Royal Liverpool member Matthew Jordan in a tie for 10th.
“It’s pretty surreal. It really hasn’t sunk in yet,” Harman said as he sat next to the Claret Jug in his post-event press conference. “I’m not going to let it out of my sight for the time-being.
Rory McIlroy on the 18th after his round during day four of The Open at Royal Liverpool (Richard Sellers/PA).
“To win what I consider the greatest prize in golf is as good as it gets.
“I’m over the moon. It was a tough last three days, it really was. Being able to get some sleep was big last night. Sleeping on a lead like that is really difficult, so I’m proud of the way I hung in there the last couple days.”
Harman, who is just the third left-hander to win the Open after Bob Charles (1963) and Phil Mickelson (2013), last tasted victory on the PGA Tour in 2017, the same year in which he led by one after 54 holes of the US Open before finishing second to Brooks Koepka.
Only two players in championship history had squandered a five-shot lead after 54 holes – Macdonald Smith in the last Open staged at Prestwick in 1925 and Jean van de Velde at Carnoustie in 1999.
Brian Harman with the Claret Jug during a press conference after winning The Open at Royal Liverpool (David Davies/PA).
Harman briefly looked in danger of joining that unhappy club when he dropped a shot on the second before Rahm closed the gap further with a fortunate birdie on the par-five fifth.
Rahm’s drive was pulled towards a collection of gorse bushes but somehow avoided all of them and left the world number three with a good lie and clear shot, from where he came up just short of the green and two-putted.
Harman’s tee shot on the fifth then followed the same line as Rahm, only to plunge into a bush and force him to take a penalty drop, leading to a second bogey and cutting his lead to three.
That was just Harman’s fifth bogey of the week and for the third time he bounced back immediately with a birdie, holing from 15 feet on the sixth to edge further clear.
Another top-quality iron shot set up a birdie on the seventh, restoring Harman’s overnight cushion and effectively ending the championship as a contest.
Even when Straka briefly got within three shots thanks to a birdie on the 16th, Harman promptly holed from 40 feet for birdie on the 14th and he added another on the next before calmly parring the last three holes to seal a convincing victory.
McIlroy, who began the day nine behind, made the ideal start with a hat-trick of birdies from the third but was unable to make any further inroads and had to settle for a closing 68, his lowest score of the week.
The world number two won the Open at Hoylake in 2014 and the US PGA Championship a month later, but has not claimed one of the game’s biggest titles since.
Six-time major winner Sir Nick Faldo, commentating for Sky Sports, said: “When he won a quick four everyone was wondering is he going to have a dozen or how close can he get to Jack (Nicklaus, who won 18).
“People think you just roll off a log and win a major but you don’t. I said years ago he would either be ecstatic to get to five or disappointed to only end up with 12 and he’d be ecstatic to get to five now.
“He is talented enough, he’s got the desire and he is really fit, there’s just a couple of things wrong with his short irons. You’ve got to find a way of clearing the air and finding a way with eight iron or less.”
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