The Open: Brian Harman keeps cool head to leave chasing pack needing miracles

The American, 36, is in pursuit of his first major and started the day five strokes clear of Tommy Fleetwood, of nearby Southport. Plenty of players got into the jostling pack, but Harman, a fidgety left-hander, was deceptively calm. After some early tests of temperament when the lead was cut to two, he was five ahead as he came down the last.

It may be Canute-like folly to think that someone can turn the tide. Wannabe usurpers include Cameron Young, last year’s runner-up, who is developing into something of an Open regular, and he will hope that his birdie on the final hole proves pivotal. His round of 66 meant he was five adrift of Harman when he reached the clubhouse.

Perhaps the best bet to give this Open something truly unforgettable is Jon Rahm. If the brooding hulk of Basque intensity has not been at his most stellar of late, he found the superlatives after a round of 63 left him one shot behind Young. “That’s the best round I’ve had on a links golf course ever,” he said. Nobody argued, but he will need another to add to the Green Jacket he donned in April.

Viktor Hovland, Antoine Rozner and Sepp Straka all finished at five under, and all need little miracles. Jason Day rolled back the years to join them, but Fleetwood did not roll in enough putts to force an anticipated Saturday duel. He has been clinging on for two days and it was a disappointingly flat day that leaves him in search of some magic to go with the grit.

There are precedents for them to cling to, Paul Lawrie making up ten shots to take advantage of Jean Van de Velde’s watery demise at Carnoustie in 1999. Only last year Justin Thomas, now sinking into a career crisis, made up seven shots to win the US PGA Championship. Harman, too, has blown a 54-hole lead before, but that was six years ago, at the US Open and the lead was only one.

For most the ultimate Open ambition has been quashed. Briefly, Rory McIlroy threatened to have one of his Tigger-like days of streaky glory but three birdies in five holes were as bouncy as he got. He missed fairways, putts and another chance to speak to the media. In truth, there was not much to say. Jordan Spieth also had a ho-hum even-par round.

Their struggles contrasted sharply with Harman. You can imagine how he felt in those long hours before teeing off last as he watched Rahm transform Hoylake’s bed of nails to a verdant chaise longue? The toils of the past two days gave way to fill-your-boots time and the 13th round of 63 at the championship was a thing of pulsating momentum. “There’s nothing different between the player that was there yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday),” said Rahm, nailing golf’s perennial conundrum.

History suggested Harman was in a near-impregnable position. It was only the fourth time a player had led the Open after 36 holes by five strokes. Gary Player and Louis Osthuizen saw the job through, and only Bobby Clampett had failed to manage it back in 1982 when the sublime segued into the ridiculous and he scraped into the top ten.

Yet stats do not take into account the fraying belief or the capriciousness of golf. Ups and downs, ebb and flow, leads can dwindle fast in the white heat of a windswept afternoon on the links.

Even before he started, Harman’s lead had been trimmed to four by Rahm’s charge. His first tee shot was a pressure-valve straight, but his first approach found the rough and he missed a 14-foot putt. In a few minutes he had seen his five shot-advantage cut to three. A day earlier he had provided one of the more colourful post-round asides by talking of how he killed a pig after missing the cut at the Masters. “I like butchering,” he had said to rows of raised eyebrows. When his tee shot on the 4th went left into the rough, you wondered whether he might end up butchering his round too. In the end he just killed off other people’s ambitions.

Fleetwood’s approach to the 2nd had earned him a birdie and so there was just cause for Harman to think he was approaching troubled waters. Yet Fleetwood had been hanging on for two rounds.

All over the course personal stories were being written, even if they quickly became subplots.

Matt Fitzpatrick, last year’s US Open winner, and his younger brother, Alex, a first-year professional, were both in the field and made a mockery of the burgeoning reputation of the final holes, with birdies at both ‘Little Eye, the new and much-debated par-three, and the last where Thomas had memorably played from one bunker to another.

Alex finished at four under, two ahead of his sibling, and that rivalry will be an enjoyable Sunday sideshow. His parents will be watching Alex with his brother’s blessing. “I told them to go focus on him,” he said. This is his first time so it’s more important.

For Matthew Jordan, the Royal Liverpool member raised a few streets away, the ultimate dream has evaporated but the thrill of playing to his galleries continues. “Best week of my life,” he said after finishing at one under par. Ditto that for Harman.

-The Times

Originally published as The Open: Brian Harman keeps cool head to leave chasing pack needing miracles