The 2023 Open Championship was a dominant performance from 36-year-old Brian Harman. Royal Liverpool at Hoylake could not slow down Harman, and neither could the weather.
With rain all day on Sunday, Harman finished the job on the weekend, where he led after Friday and then again after Saturday. Harman was terrific all over the course, all weekend, with 67, 65, 69, and 70 to finish six strokes ahead of second-place finishers Tom Kim, Sepp Straka, and Jason Day.
Who is Brian Harman?
Harman, who has been on the PGA Tour since the 2009 season, picked up his fifth PGA Tour title. After playing his college Golf at the University of Georgia had not won on tour since 2017. That win came at the Wells Fargo Championship by taking down Dustin Johnson and Pat Perez.
A season ago, Harman finished tied for 6th at the Open Championship, which was his second-best major finish behind his tied-for-second-place finish at the US Open in 2017. Earlier this season, Harman finished tied for 43rd at the US Open for the second straight season.
The rest of the Top 10 at the Open Championship was Emiliano Grillo and Rory Mcllroy, tied for 6th at -6, while Shubhankar Sharma and Cameron Young tied for 8th with -5. Max Homa, Matthew Jordan, and Tommy Fleetwood tied for 10th with a -4.
Jordan was the local favorite growing up on the course. He shot a 69, 72,69, and 70. Tommy Fleetwood was another guy locally, and he went with a 66, 71, 71, and 72. Scottie Scheffler broke his streak of Top 10 finishes but came back with a 67 on Sunday to finish tied for 23rd.
Purse at the Open
Harman is expected to receive $3M of the Open Championship purse for his title. The Open Championship has the smallest purse and winner’s share of the four majors in 2023.
That $3M check is nearly $1M more than combined wins from his first two PGA victories. His career-best earnings came a month ago when he finished tied for second at the Travelers and took home $1.78M.
Disappointing Weekends
A few guys that would like to have their play back from the weekend; the list starts with Justin Thomas. Thomas, who came into the tournament playing poorly, continued that. Thomas missed the cut at +11. Dustin Johnson shot a 74 on Thursday but then backed it up with an 81 to miss the cut at +13.
Veteran Phil Mickelson was another guy that struggled all weekend. Lefty saw his first day end up messy, with a 77, before coming back with a 74 on Friday. Justin Rose, Tony Finau, and Colin Morikawa all missed the cut as well.
PGA Tour Finishing Strong
While this was the final major tournament of the 2023 PGA season, the action will get hot and heavy in August. The first weekend of August, Sedgefield Country Club in North Carolina will be the host of the Wyndham Championship; after that – Memphis, Tennessee, will be the scene of the FedEx St. Jude Championship before the BMW Championship goes to Olympia Fields, outside of Chicago.
Finally, East Lake in Georgia will host the Tour Championship to wrap up the month. Harman, with his win, moved up to #6 in the FedEx standings.
