Brian Harman Explains Why He Had a Heckler Tossed Out of The Open

An underdog story is only good for so long.

Brian Harman found that out the hard way at The Open Championship last month. Harman took a commanding lead going into Saturday’s third round at Royal Liverpool last month, and the crowd—which cheered him along on Friday—decided they wanted to pull for some Europeans to make things interesting over the weekend.

While cheering for England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, many fans were also all over Harman, who talked about the experience on Golf.com’s “Subpar Podcast” last week.

On this @golf_subpar, Brian Harman joins @ColtKnost and @thesleezyman to talk about winning the Open Championship.

Full episode here: https://t.co/LVCDcpI4T5 pic.twitter.com/aICehfEAom

— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) August 5, 2023

“It caught me off guard a little bit, but it didn’t affect my play, which I was really proud of. It felt like a real hostile away game in college football,” Harman said.

“On the [football] field, you are a long way from it. When you walk three feet from someone [on the golf course] and they say something nasty, it’s intimate. It’s hard not to stop and turn around and get back after them.”

Brian Harman: Boos from fans fired me up to become Open champion | @DempsterMartin at Hoylakehttps://t.co/HGxBuVFcmD

— Scotsman Sport (@ScotsmanSport) July 23, 2023

Harman said he took the comments in stride, but he did take exception to one who was going off while Harman was lining up to putt.

“The guy followed me from like No. 6 to No. 10 Sunday, and literally like, every time over the ball he was like, ‘You are going to choke!’ Like, right as I was about to pull it back. And I’m standing over a three-footer for par on 10, and he starts getting after me again. It was my turn to play a shot, you can’t be quiet, you are out of here.”

Harman said he had that spectator ejected for not respecting his turn. Harman got the last laugh over the rest of the raucous crowd at Hoylake by taking a six-shot victory in the event.

Harman hasn’t teed off since, but he will be a part of the FedEx St. Jude Championship this week, which is the first leg of the PGA Tour’s FedExCup playoffs.

Cover Image via Twitter