Brian Harman Unfazed By The Moment, Puts On A Sunday Masterclass To Win The Open

Outside of players having to deal with the elements throughout the day, nothing about Sunday's final round at The Open was all that normal, and Brian Harman is more than happy to be the man responsible for that.

With 18 holes to play, the No. 26 player in the world who hasn't won since May 2017 not only held the 54-hole lead but started the day with a five-shot cushion. You look down the leaderboard, and Harman had managed to lap the likes of Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, and Cam Young over the first three days. Those are big-game hunters with seven major championships between them, yet Harman, somehow, some way, managed not to care.

The fact that Harman was the most-accurate player and as close to automatic as one can be with the putter for four straight days certainly catapulted him to his six-shot victory, but it was the mental side of things, and his demeanor over 72 holes, that was most impressive.

You can look back at every major champion in history and say that they had the strongest mental game for that particular week, but The Open hasn't seen what we witnessed from Harman in well-over two decades.

We have to go all the way back to The Open in 2000 when Tiger Woods won by eight shots at St. Andrews to find a more dominant performance at an Open Championship.

Brian Harman is the 2023 Champion Golfer of the Year. (Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images)

Brian Harman Refused To Give Anything Back

Harman carding a one-under 70 on Sunday, when could have given a few shots back and still left Hoylake a comfortable champion, speaks to the way he was able to go about his business over the course of the most important and demanding 18 holes of his career.

Royal Liverpool did throw punches Harman's way early in his round, but it became clear that there was no way the former Georgia Bulldog was leaving the property without the Claret Jug.

There is a certain stretch of holes that defines every round of golf, and Harman's presented itself on the Par 4 third hole.

After finding the fairway off the tee, Harman hit a low-hook down the out-of-bounds line before his golf ball disappeared in the nasty, thick rough. He was somehow able to hit his pitch shot to just outside of seven feet and walked in his par putt.

This delivered all the confidence he needed over his next 15 holes to keep his foot down and not allow anyone to get within serious striking distance of his lead. His hiccup of a bogey on the Par 5 fifth hole presented another test, but he answered right away with back-to-back birdies on the next two holes.

The tournament already felt over before Harman even hit his opening tee shot on Sunday, but those birdies on the sixth and seventh holes completely slammed the door shut for all trying to play spoiler.

"He just played too good." Those were the words of Day, who finished in a tie for second, used to describe Harman's final round.

Those five words don't just describe the 36-year-old's Sunday stroll at Hoylake, but the entire four-day spectacle he put on.

Follow Mark Harris on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris