Even-Keeled Brian Harman Won The Open Championship By Focusing On That Hole, That Shot, That Putt

The chances are pretty good that unless you’re a golf fanatic you’ve never heard of the guy who just won the world’s oldest and one of its most prestigious tournaments, The Open Championship. This year’s Open was played at the Royal Liverpool Golf Course in England, and the winner was a Georgia native named Brian Harman. You’d be forgiven for not knowing who he is because, as one scribe phrased it, while not a star, Harman occupies a realm “where he’s known by fans but doesn't necessarily have fans.”

If you’re a University of Georgia supporter, you’re “over the moon” about fellow Bulldog Harman’s victory, to use the very same phrase Harman used to describe his delight at finishing 13 under and winning the Claret Jug by 6 strokes, which tied for the second-largest margin of victory by an American golfer in the storied tournament's history.

But if you’re not a Bulldog, you were probably rooting for someone else, and since the tournament was played in the United Kingdom, the someone was more likely than not to be Tommy Fleetwood, who grew up only 30 miles away from where The Open was played. That tribal loyalty guaranteed a boisterous home crowd, and if there’s anything you can say for English sports fans, they do relish an opportunity to cheer on their favorite players and make life uncomfortable for their adversaries.

And that’s what they did over the weekend after it became apparent that the soft-spoken, almost cerebral son of Savannah, GA was going to be the man to beat. With songs of “Tommy’s our man!” ringing down on him at every hole, especially when he and Fleetwood were paired together on Saturday, Harman might have allowed the love for Fleetwood to get inside his head.

Harman had fallen victim to the voices in his head before. In previous tournaments, he admitted to becoming absorbed by the emotional tensions of competition and ended up overthinking things and sabotaging himself. This partly explains why such an obviously talented professional had, since the start of the 2017-18 season, registered 29 top-10 finishes on tour, the most of any player without a victory. But while he seemed often in the hunt, he was almost never the hunted, the role he played almost from the beginning of this championship.

People love drama and in sports and life and try to feed it wherever and whenever they can; yet it’s often our ability to hold the drama in check that determines our success in the moment. And when you think about it, that’s really the key phrase: in the moment. Staying in the moment or being present is the critical mindset we need to close on whatever goal we choose to pursue.

All of us are susceptible when listening to the wrong voice in our heads. A little over a year ago in this space, we chronicled top-ranked golfer Scottie Scheffler’s close call with psychological disaster on the final hole of the 2022 Master’s. At that critical moment, Scheffler seemed incapable even of tapping the ball in until his caddie, Ted Scott, showed the world why he earns the big bonus bucks and discretely talked his man back into the present, helping Scheffler close out the win.

For a brief spell Saturday, Harman also wavered. He bogeyed the first and Fleetwood birdied the second to cut a five-shot lead to three, and another bogey by Harman at the fourth signaled to a crowd that their player might get back in it. Harman pulled himself together and, by the end of the day, had a five-shot lead over the field. When Saturday’s interviews and buzz seemed to be focusing on his five-shot lead going into Sunday’s final round, Harmon refused to get caught up in the “cushion” narrative, reflecting, “I tried hard to stay patient. Stick to what you do and don’t get ahead of yourself. It wasn’t about getting more cushion for tomorrow, it was about that hole, that shot, that putt.”

And when the job was finished and he held the jug with bursting pride, he continued to refuse the relentless press for drama. Did Harman expect his first majors breakthrough to “catapult” his career, he was asked?

“I hope it catapults me…I don’t know,” he answered tentatively. “I’m just going to get back to my routines and process. …I’m just gonna stick with that.”

You can be sure the win will make Harman more widely known and appreciated and even earn him some more fans outside the 30609 zip code. After all, while you don’t generally get your own Netflix series by getting back to your routines and processes, the hole, shot and putt you focus on today does give you a better chance of getting back to the winner’s circle tomorrow.