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Brian Harman Reveals Two Major Keys to his Open Championship Win

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Brian Harman charged onto the major golf scene this weekend, staking a big lead after Friday’s second round of The Open Championship and gaining even more ground in the final two rounds to win at Royal Liverpool by a whopping six strokes over Jon Rahm, Tom Kim, Jason Day, and Sepp Straka.

It was Harman’s first major win and first of any kind since the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship.

Whenever a golfer endures a long win drought, they tend to make tweaks to their game to get back into winning form. Harman is no different.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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After Friday’s 65 that put him way out in front after 36 holes, Harman said that his switch back to Titleist—specifically the Pro V1, was to cut through that traditional Open Championship wind that was prevalent in all four rounds in Hoylake.

He also said he used the Pro V1 at St. Andrews last year, where he finished sixth.

His other move was more mechanical. It involved a tweak to his putting stroke, which had improved greatly over the past month. It led to a runner-up at the Travelers Championship and two more top-12 finishes before his breakthrough this week in England.

“It’s a silly-looking mirror, where it’s got like a little better release pattern,” Harman said. “I was just kind of cutting my putts too much. I spent a lot of time just feeling the ball, almost hitting like a baby draw with my putter, and it’s been really, really good the last month or so.”

The proof is in the results. His Strokes Gained: Putting ranking prior to the U.S. Open was 67th on the PGA Tour, and it now stands at 38th.

For The Open, Harman led the field in the metric, holing 58 of his 59 attempts from 10 feet or closer.


Cover Image via Twitter

Chris has worked in sports journalism for nearly 20 years and also loves the game of golf, even though it often doesn't love him back. Year-round golf is a perk of living in Florida, where Chris moved from his native New York shortly after graduating from college. Chris has played some famous courses in the state, including Bay Hill in Orlando and Innisbrook in the Tampa Bay area, and next on his to-do list is the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass to take a crack at the famous island hole.

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