Brian Harman earns shocking (but convincing) win at The Open
36-year-old Brian Harman entered the 151st Open Championship as a 125-1 longshot to win. He had only won twice on the PGA Tour, his last victory coming six years ago, while earning just a pair of top-10 finishes elsewhere. No majors in 29 championship starts with 13 missed cuts.
On Sunday, though, he claimed the upset victory in convincing fashion, shooting 67-65-69-70 across 72 holes to finish -13 overall — six shots ahead of second-place finisher Sepp Straka. He entered the final day with a five-shot lead, holding firm through the finish line on 18 to earn the Claret Jug.
It’s a purse worth $16,500,000 in the prestigious event held at Royal Liverpool Golf Course, $3 million individually for the winner — quite the prize for the 26th-ranked player in the world. As for the margin of victory, it was the second-largest in Open Championship history, only Tiger Woods beating Harman’s six-stroke win with an eight-stroke victory of his own at St. Andrews in Scotland back in 2000.
At 36 years old, he’s the oldest first-time major winner since Sergio Garcia won The Masters in 2017.
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“I’ve always had a self-belief that I could do something like this,” Harman said via ESPN. “It’s just when it takes so much time it’s hard not to let your mind falter, like maybe I’m not winning again. I’m 36 years old. [The] game is getting younger. All these young guys coming out, hit it a mile, and they’re all ready to win. Like when is it going to be my turn again?
“It’s been hard to deal with. I think someone mentioned that I’ve had more top 10s than anyone since 2017, so that’s a lot of times where you get done, you’re like, ‘Dammit, man, I had that one.’ It just didn’t happen for whatever reason.”
This time it did.
He becomes just the sixth American ever to win The Open by six or more shots, joining Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Arnold Palmer, Johnny Miller and Tiger Woods.
Final results from the 151st Open Championship
| Player | Overall score |
|---|---|
| 1 – Brian Harman | -13 |
| T2 – Sepp Straka | -7 |
| T2 – Tom Kim | -7 |
| T2 – Jason Day | -7 |
| T2 – Jon Rahm | -7 |
| T6 – Rory McIlroy | -6 |
| T6 – Emiliano Grillo | -6 |
| T8 – Shubhankar Sharma | -5 |
| T8 – Cameron Young | -5 |
| T10 – Max Homa | -4 |
| T10 – Matthew Jordan | -4 |
| T10 – Tommy Fleetwood | -4 |
| T13 – Viktor Hovland | -3 |
| T13 – Thomas Detry | -3 |
| T13 – Henrik Stenson | -3 |
| T13 – Hideki Matsuyama | -3 |
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