Brian Harman takes lead with Open Championship in grasp
HOYLAKE, England — The 151st British Open wasn’t a tournament.
Then it was.
And then it wasn’t again.
As Saturday began, it looked as if the end result of the Open was no longer in the balance.
Brian Harman slept on a five-shot 36-hole lead, at 10-under, and was looking unflappable.
Then Spaniard Jon Rahm, with an early tee time and nothing to lose, came charging like one of those bulls at Pamplona, posting an 8-under 63 to get to 6-under.
Other former major championship winners, such as Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, initially followed suit, making moves up the leaderboard before Harman teed off for his third round.
Then Harman teed off at 3:30 p.m. local time and promptly bogeyed the first hole from the middle of the fairway to drop to 9-under, three ahead of Rahm.
Then he bogeyed No. 4 to drop to 8-under, and his lead had melted down to a mere two shots.
Suddenly, in the late afternoon at Royal Liverpool, it seemed as if there was a tournament percolating and Sunday drama looming.
Until there wasn’t.
Brian Harman of the United States tees off on the 16th hole on Day Three of The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Getty Images
The prosperous rounds of Day, Spieth, McIlroy and other pretenders were halted and Harman found his feet, with birdies on Nos. 5 and 9, and got back to 10-under.
He later added birdies on Nos. 12 and 13 on the back nine and finished with a 2-under 69 to get to 12-under and keep his lead exactly where it had been at the start of the day — five shots.
Cameron Young is in second place at 7-under after shooting 66.
Rahm is six shots back at 6-under, and several players, including Day, Viktor Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood, are seven shots back at 5-under.
The claret jug, as it was at the start of the third round, is Harman’s to win or lose.
What he does on Sunday during the final round will dictate everything.
“The tournament is four days, [but] it’s clearly in Brian’s hands,’’ Fleetwood said.
Brian Harman putts on the 13th green during the third day of the British Open Golf Championships. AP
“Obviously, Brian is playing amazing, [so] someone has got to go out and post a score to catch him,’’ Min Woo Lee said.
Harman, who has been adamant about not getting ahead of himself, conceded it would be “foolish not to envision’’ holding the claret jug come Sunday night.
“I’ve thought about winning majors for my whole entire life,” he said. “It’s the whole reason I work as hard as I do and why I practice as much as I do and why I sacrifice as much as I do.
“Tomorrow, if that’s going to come to fruition for me, it has to be all about the golf. It has to be execution and just staying in the moment.’’
Harman, as has been well documented, loves to hunt.
On Sunday, he’ll be hunting for the biggest game he ever has caught on a golf course, that shiny claret jug.
Brian Harman of the U.S. and England’s Tommy Fleetwood shake hands on the 18th green after finishing their third round. REUTERS
“My dad used to take me hunting, [and] we always made it a point that I knew how to skin a deer when I was 8 years old,’’ Harman recalled. “It was all part of it, start to finish. I enjoy it start to finish. Back home at the hunting place that I own, we plant food for the animals.
“We have prescribed fire for the animals. Everything we do is for the wildlife, and then when we harvest it, we respect it and take care of it and feed our families with it.’’
Harman said he loves to practice his golf because it helps him “lose track of time,’’ adding, “That’s how I know that I really enjoy it.’’
Hunting does the same thing for him.
“The patience and the strategy for sure,’’ he said. “When I go out turkey hunting, I can spend all day out there. We’ve been on some really cool elk hunts out in Colorado, really tough hunting, tons of elevation, and then after we harvest the animal, having to pack it out. You talk about six to eight hours packing this thing up and down these mountains.
“It’s just something I really enjoy doing. I enjoy putting meat in the freezer.’’
On Sunday, he’d like to bag the oldest, most famous trophy in golf to put on his mantel at home in Georgia.
Source: New York Post
