Brian Harman might be feeling like he’s spoiling the great Rory McIlroy/Tommy Fleetwood party this week, but he’s at least got a Ryder Cup captain rooting for him.
Former European skipper, Padraig Harrington, spoke admirably of the 36-year-old earlier this week, but current US Ryder Cup captain, Zach Johnson, is an even bigger fan.
Harman, who entered the final round of the Open Championship with a five-shot lead over Spain’s Jon Rahm, won’t have heard what Johnson had to say whilst he was out grinding on a wet links, but he’ll no doubt be buoyed by his words when he does.
“Well, he's a really good friend of mine. We live on the same rock, island, if you will, St. Simons Island,” said Johnson. “I've known him for years. Great family, great wife, great kids. The Harmans are dear friends of mine.”
Johnson, who won The Open at St Andrews in 2015, describes his friend as a “formidable competitor” and says that when all aspects of his game come together, he can be “lethal”.
“What does Brian Harman do really well? Well, he does everything quite well,” said Johnson. “He's a very good driver of the golf ball and a very, very, very good putter. Then if everything else is good, then it can be pretty lethal.”
Johnson, who also won the Masters in 2007, has never been known for his power, but the 12-time PGA Tour winner hasn’t collected almost $50m in prize money with a limited set of skills, and he sees a lot of his own game when watching Harman, who’s been averaging around 100th in the field for driving distance so far this week.
“Our games are very similar except for the fact that he stands on the wrong side of the golf ball,” joked Johnson. “He hits it a little further. He's gritty. He's got a great ensemble of coaches and a team.”
Despite two-time PGA Tour winner Harman’s impressive week at the 151st Open Championship, Johnson wouldn’t be drawn on where that puts his friend in his Ryder Cup thinking.
Johnson is due to name his six picks after the Tour Championship at the end of August, but he’s keeping his cards close to his chest.
“I can't answer that. I'm not going to speak on behalf of him,” he said, when asked whether he thinks Harman might feel like he has an extra incentive to make the team because of their friendship.
“I can say this: Over the years I've had discussions with him, and my advice to him, because I've been in that position, fortunately on both sides of it, I've made some teams that I thought I might miss, and I missed some teams that I thought I had a chance.
“He's still young enough and competitive enough that I think there's still room for improvement in his game, which is pretty scary, because I think he's really, really good.”
