Clinical mastery of Brian Harman extends Rory McIlroy's major drought

LOOK OF LOVE: Brian Harman with the Claret Jug during a press conference after winning The Open at Royal Liverpool, Wirral. Pic: David Davies/PA Wire

Another year goes by, another new Open champion joins the pantheon of major winners but as Rory McIlroy’s drought in golf’s main events is set to stretch into a 10th year, the world number two has insisted he will keep looking forward rather than reflect on a decade without silverware in the game’s most prestigious tournaments.

A missed cut at The Masters, a tie for seventh at the PGA Championship, runner-up to Wyndham Clark at last month’s US Open and now a share of sixth place at Royal Liverpool on Sunday behind runaway winner Brian Harman, the wait for major title number five will extend to nine years and seventh months when he will next get a shot, at Augusta National next April.

Not that he sees it like that.

“I don't think that way,” McIlroy said. I think about trying to go and win a fourth FedEx Cup in a couple weeks' time, go try and win a fifth Race to Dubai, go and win a fifth Ryder Cup. I just keep looking forward.

“Over the last two years would I have loved to have picked one of those off that I finished up there? Absolutely. But every time I tee it up or most times I tee it up, I'm right there.

“I can't sit here and be too frustrated. You think about my performances in the majors between like 2016 and 2019, it's a lot better than that. I'm optimistic about the future, and just got to keep plugging away.” 

This week in Hoylake, the 151st Open represented another ideal opportunity to end the barren spell. Fresh from a gutsy win at the Scottish Open, the 34-year-old Irishman had arrived on Merseyside looking to rediscover the magic that had propelled him to a wire-to-wire win here in 2014.

Yet despite steadily improving scores following an opening level-par 71 last Thursday, it was the unheralded Harman, 36, who outshone him and the rest of the field with a clinical self-contained mastery of this links course, the conditions and the resilience to stay focused and rebound from setbacks.

On a final day of persistent rainfall McIlroy finished seven shots behind the American following a closing three-under-par 68 that left him on six under for the tournament alongside Emiliano Grillo of Argentina, India’s Shubhankar Sharma and 2022 runner-up Cameron Young of the USA.

Masters champion Jon Rahm was the joint runner-up, six shots in arrears of Harman, as was Austria’s Sepp Straka, Australia’s Jason Day and Korean Tom Kim. The Spaniard had briefly threatened to make the championship a contest, his third-round 63, an Open record for Royal Liverpool coinciding with a rare Harman wobble when he bogeyed the first and fourth holes on Saturday.

Yet the diminutive golfer from Savannah, Georgia, who will now rise from number 26 in the world rankings to 10, displayed the bouncebackability of a true champion. He birdied the fifth and three more holes without another blemish on his third-round card and signed for a 69 to maintain a five-shot lead for the second day in a row.

Harman led the championship for 46 holes. He may not have the appeal or the charisma of a Rahm or McIlroy, whose 2014 winning total of 271 he matched on Sunday, but he is every bit as worthy a champion.

There was an early wobble for the second day in a row, this time with bogeys at the second and par-five fifth and yet again there was the rebound, back-to-back birdies at the par-three sixth and par-four seventh. Another bogey, at the par-three 13th, was followed up with successive birdies at 14 and the par-five 15th just to put further emphasis on Harman’s inability to let mistakes affect his composure. 

All that was left after that was the coronation, and having referenced “unrepeatable” heckles from the galleries when he played with local hero Tommy Fleetwood the previous day, Harman was afforded the acclaim of a victory walk up the 18th as the rain-sodden spectators in the grandstands around the final hole rose as one to honour their new Champion Golfer.

He had got up and down from a greenside bunker at the 72nd hole, his perfectly judged sand wedge putting him inside eight feet eliciting a rare show of emotion with a fist pump ahead of the most satisfying of par putts, which he duly holed and then hugged his caddie Scott Tway.

“I've got to thank my wife, my family back home. I sure miss them,” Harman said when he returned to the 18th to collect the Claret Jug. “I can't wait to get back to them tomorrow. First I'm going to have me a couple pints out of this here trophy, I believe.

“This golf course was a real test. It was set up so great, even with the weather. To all the superintendents and everyone that helped put it together, thank you so much. The greens were perfect. The golf course was excellent. Thank you.

“Lastly, I want to thank the R&A for putting together such an incredible championship. I couldn't be happier to be its champion.

“To all the fans, to all the nice words and all the people back home who were rooting me on, I appreciate it so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” 

As for McIlroy, who described his return to Hoylake this week as “solid, not spectacular”, he succinctly reminded his inquisitors that he has plenty of glory still to chase this year.

“Confidence is high. I’m playing well, obviously off the back of a win last week, another solid performance here. I want to try and be right in there and win another FedEx Cup, there’s another Race To Dubai to win and obviously the Ryder Cup which is the most important of them all.

“And after what happened at Whistling Straits I think personally for me and then for the rest of the team I don’t think we could be more motivated to go to Rome and get that Ryder Cup back. So a lot of golf to play individually until then but I think a lot of our attentions will turn to Rome after this.” 

Reflecting on his overall performance at this year’s majors, he told Sky Sports: “Augusta, just forget about that. Didn’t feel like I had my best stuff at Oak Hill (in May’s PGA Championship) and pieced it together and finished seventh. Had a great chance at LA (In the US Open), didn’t quite get the job done.

“This week, if it weren’t for one guy I’d be right there. I’m playing well, there’s nothing else I can really say. Playing good, keep putting myself in there.

“At the end of the day when I look back on my career am I going to remember my (sixth) place finish at Hoylake in 2023? Probably not, but still another really solid performance and still a lot of golf to play this year.”