While Spain was deciding its political future, thousands of kilometers away, Brian Harman was proclaimed champion of the 151st British Open this Sunday at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. He resisted the one in Savannah (Georgia, USA) on a day in which the clouds unloaded everything that had been saved on Saturday (although the wind was conspicuous by its absence), and with his one under par for -13 (271 strokes), he became the third left-handed winner in tournament history after Bob Charles, who raised the Claret Jug in 1963 at Royal Lytham, and Phil Mickelson, who secured it for him in 2012 at Muirfield. Jon Rahm, his great pursuer in the final day, had to settle for second place, his best performance in this big game, six shots behind the winner (277 in total, -7).
He does not have the pedigree of Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy, the two golfers enthroned in this century at Hoylake (the American in 2006 and the Northern Irishman in 2014), but he is not just anyone either. Brian, 26th in the world ranking, and although distant, two victories on the PGA Tour (the John Deere in 2014 and the Wells Fargo in 2017), five top-10 this year on the circuit.
He had already warned, in fact, last year in St. Andrews with a sixth place (and this one with an eleventh in the Scottish Open, the previous one of the British), his second top-10 in a big one after the second place conquered in the US Open of 2017. He went out to the last round of that leading event with a stroke ahead and the par was not worth it, devoured by a Brooks Koepka who began to write his success story in the Grand Slam of golf in Erin Hills.
It seems that he learned from that, because after taking the lead on Friday with five rental impacts, he remained impassive on Saturday before the pressure exerted from behind, especially by a Jon Rahm who shot a historic 63and this Sunday only some capsizing was allowed in the first five holes. He completed them at +2, bogeys at 3 and 5, which followed a birdie by Rahmbo in the fifth to reduce the gap to three shots. The setting was beginning to recall the Augusta Masters, when the Biscayan ate the four that Koepka had taken from him when he reached 30 holes that Sunday as a result of bad weather on Saturday.
But Harman, who was leading into the final round in putter strokes gained, having never missed from ten feet or less, offered another clinic on the greens. He saved a pair in the fourth from two meters after a bad approach and on the 6th and 7th he discounted the two shots with which he had charged at the start, holed out from four and seven meters respectively. ‘One put man’, ‘One putt man’, likes to call the always ingenious Lee Trevino, and it’s not a whim.
With a bogey from Rahm to nine, a few holes ahead for a McIlroy who turned on with three birdies from 3 to 5 to turn off later (he finished sixth, -6, and the drought in the majors will reach a tenth year); with Cameron Young closing out the top nine at +2; with Sepp Straka making the rubber (no one made more birdies than him, 21 throughout the week, but he clouded them with 12 bogeys); and with Scottie Scheffler, the world number one, far behind (he finished 23rd even, in his worst result of the year), Harman’s victory was taking shape. Adrián Otaegui from San Sebastian had already closed his participation a while ago, the Spanish sensation on Thursday, finally 55th with a +1 to +5.
The 32nd different American champion in the history of the British Open materialized in about nine seconds in which he followed his own: he finally missed an affordable putt on 13 that cost him the bogey, but he reacted immediately with birdies on 14 and 15 (four of his six bogeys of the week were countered immediately), putting 12 meters in the first. While rahmwho had given himself one last burning nail to cling to with a birdie at 12 after a great iron, definitively buried his options with a bogey at 14, which, however, did not deter him from what is his 12th top-10 in 29 majors played, the second in the Britishcertified with a birdie from distance in the 18th that gave him -1 on the day.
Harman, for his part, declared to the televisions still on the 18th green: “I want to thank my wife and my family who are at home. I can’t believe I have this trophy. This course has been a great challenge, it was very well prepared, I want to thank the staff who took care of it, it was in perfect condition. Also thanks to the R&A for organizing the tournament, I couldn’t be happier to be champion. And thanks to all the public for the support they have given me during the week, thank you and thank you”. He will not be the most celebrated champion, nor the most remembered in a somewhat watered-down edition, which has not seen any major winner in the first three rounds lead, but, like all winners in this sport, he is deserving of the Clarete Jug that he already shows off on his resume.