With some exceptions, the PGA Tour is known for tournaments that predominantly take place at parkland courses, so it’s little wonder that when The Open comes around, many of its players find the links courses the Major is famous for a shock to the system.
One of those players is Brian Harman, despite his dominance of the 2023 tournament at Royal Liverpool to eventually win by six shots.
Even though Harman showed considerable mastery of both the course and appalling conditions at last July’s event, he explained to the media via video link-up that it wasn’t always the case.
The American said: "The first time I played links golf I hated it - it ate me to pieces. I kept trying to hit lob wedges around the greens and the weather was bad. I got whipped, lost all of my matches."
That was when Harman was an amateur at the 2006 Palmer Cup, which took place at Prestwick Golf Club. It was an unhappy experience for the Americans against the Europeans in general, with the visitors being thumped 19.5 to 4.5, and Harman found it particularly tricky, losing all four of his matches.
Eight years later, he made his Open debut at the scene of his 2023 triumph, where he finished T26. However, despite a run of failures at the Major in the years that followed, he admitted during that time he learned to embrace the unique challenge of links courses.
He said: "I had a stretch where I missed four cuts in a row at The Open and just couldn't quite get it figured out but I knew that I really enjoyed the golf even when I wasn't playing great. It's a thinking-man's game. You have to be able to hit every single type of golf shot.”
Harman also thinks the PGA Tour could benefit from a wider variety of courses. He continued: "There are lots of different ways to be successful and that’s something that’s lacking in our game week to week and I wish we had a little bit more of it. It's refreshing to play hard golf that's not just a one-stop shop."
Harman’s Open win propelled him into the world’s top 10 for the first time in his career, and he has yet to relinquish that position. That has been helped by some excellent form including four more top 10 finishes, with a T2 at The Players Championship the most notable.
There have been setbacks along the way, though, including finishing with a bogey-double bogey to take the gloss off his first round at last month’s RBC Heritage.
After that, he gave a famously succinct interview that quickly went viral. Two weeks on, Harman has had time to reflect on it, and admitted he has regrets over his approach to it.
“I don’t care to be that way,” he said. “I don’t like coming off as curt or disrespectful. Everyone has got a job to do. I hate that it came off that way.
“As far as the way I was feeling, it’s just as raw as it gets. I don’t want to come off as ungrateful for what I get to do. I love what I do. It’s the only thing that I could do every day.”
Harman begins the defence of his Open title at Royal Troon on 18 July.
