Unexpected spectacular tournament from Georgian

An American dream came true at the seaside links golf course of Royal Liverpool, England at the weekend in the 151st Open Championship when Brian Harman triumphed with a glorious tally of 13-under par.  His closest rivals were a massive six shots behind on the soggy Sunday in Merseyside.  But who is Brian Harman, I hear you ask.  And where did all the well-tipped golfing greats from around the world finish at Hoylake?

 

Well, Brian Harman is a 36-year old professional golfer from Georgia, America.  The rather-unassuming player had a delightful round of 65 on Friday to take the lead at Royal Liverpool.  And, I must say, from there on just didn’t let his game slip at all.  Even with the dire weather conditions of Sunday, he just kept his cool.  A par on every hole would earn him the much-covetted Claret Jug.  Keep cool, calm and collected, that is all he needed to do.  But how would the final day nerves play on Harman’s game?

 

Even with the appalling weather conditions, the par 71 course was full of enthusiastic golf fans all sheltered under umbrellas but still cheering on their own favourite players.

 

The big names in golf

 

Masters Champion from Spain, Jon Rahm, got himself into second position after a birdie at the 527 yard par 5, 5th.  His score of 7-under was a good target for all the players.  The big question was could Brian Harman hang on to his enormous lead or would he crumble under the pressure?

 

 

England’s Tommy Fleetwood was also still in the picture at this point.  He was in a tie for third place on 6-under par.

 

Alas, Harman then made two bogeys on the 2nd and the 5th holes to reduce his lead to 10-under par.  The final day at the Open was about to get exciting.

 

Back-to-back birdies at the 6th and 7th then followed which catapulted Harman into a magnificent massive lead again on 12-under par.  Who could catch the American?

 

Birdies for McIlroy

 

Major winner Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland was pumped up and ready to clinch the Claret Jug.  He holed some super birdie putts on the 3rd, 4th and 5th to keep the fans cheering for him.  However, two bogeys on the back nine alongside birdies at the 14th and 17th just left the newly-crowned Scottish Open just out of the picture on 6-under.

 

A host of players were challenging Harman for second place.  Even when he holed an enormous putt for birdie at the 14th to get to 12-under, the Austrian player Sepp Straka managed to climb into runner-up spot on 8-under par with two holes to play.

 

All eyes from the Royal Liverpool club were firmly fixed on local professional, Matthew Jordan.  He delighted the British fans too by making a birdie at the final hole to earn himself a splendid share of 10th spot together with England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Max Homa (USA).

 

Tremendous golf

 

Left-handed golfer Brian Harman, with his rather twitchy address routine, was playing tremendous golf at Royal Liverpool.  His putting was simply absolutely outstanding.  Incredibly, all week he had hardly missed a single putt inside 10 feet. While other players were struggling in the wind and rain to even make par, Harman just kept rolling in the birdies.

 

No wonder then that Harman played the last few holes so well.  During the Open Championship week, the player from Georgia only found three sandbunkers.  The last of which was at the final hole.  He was 13-under with just the 18th to play.  How were his nerves in the sand?  The answer is simple.  Brian Harman just splashed out and rounded-off his round with a solid par for an amazing score of 13-under par.

 

“I’m just so elated!” is how the American player reacted during the prize presentation.  Brian Harman from Georgia is the new Champion Golfer of the Year which is a tremendous achievement when you are playing against the many and almighty Major winners of the last decade.

 

The second place was shared by Tom Kite (South Korea), Sepp Straka (Austria), Jason Day (America) and Jon Rahm (Spain) with a four-day total of 7-under par.  Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) and Emiliano Grillo (Argentina) were tied on sixth spot one shot behind.

 

By the way, the halfway cut came at 3-over par which left players like Collin Morikawa (America) and Pablo Larrazabal (Spain) just one shot shy.  Players like Major winners from America Phil Mickelson and Justin Thomas finished well-down the leaderboard on 9-over and 11-over, respectively.

 

All I can say is that I guess you win some and you lose some.  But for now, we are very happy for American Brian Harman.  He is the well-deserved new Champion Golfer of the Year.

 

Many congratulations to you Brian Harman, the 2023 Open Champion!

 

Wendy Hoad

Editor

 

 

MAIN PHOTOGRAPH:  American Brian Harman is the new Champion Golfer of the Year.  MINIS (l-r): Jon Rahm (Spain), Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), Sepp Straka (Austria) and Tommy Fleetwood (England).