The special connection between Brian Harman and the links courses

The press conference of Brian Harman after the second round

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am delighted to be joined by our uh current current leader and 2023 champion, Brian. A six under 65 for you today. Remarkable golf. Can you summarize the round for us? Yeah. Um got off to a good start. Um picked my spots really nice. Hit some good iron shots. Um played smart when I had to. Made made the putts when I had chances. So played uh played really solid all day. Great. If you got questions, raise your hand. We’ll get a microphone to you in the back, please. Two, please. We’ll play today. Brian, um, is there anything about what is it about Lynx golf that you know maybe suits your eye a little bit and makes these events perhaps a little easier? I think that um, places like this force you uh, to be a little bit more creative. It’s not um, so much of an aerial attack. You know, there’s a, you know, there’s probably 10 different, you know, 10 different types of clubs and irons, drivers, woods that you can hit off the tea. There’s different ways to attack into the green. And there’s almost always a hill that will kind of kill a shot coming into a green. And so, I don’t know, I just enjoy the like the creativity and and trying to think your way around. You don’t necessarily you’re not forced to hit certain shots. You can kind of do it your own way. We’ll go right next door. Yep. Well played, Brian. Um, what’s different about Hoy Lake and Port Rush? Um, and well, what’s different about the way you play these two courses? They’re very different linked courses. Um, you know, I I just I get I feel really comfortable over here. I um I’m comfortable driving it. Um, yeah. I don’t know. I mean, they’re they’re they’re very very different golf courses, but the golf is is similar. It’s um you got to be able to flight your golf ball. You got to know how far everything’s going. Um and then you can’t get frustrated. You like you’re going to get bad breaks. You’re going to end up in funny spots where it doesn’t seem fair and you just have to kind of outlast that stuff. And so although the golf courses are different, the the style of golf is is very similar, I think. Yeah. Rex, please. Har, what was your first experience on like a true Lynx golf course? question. Did you take to it immediately or was there a bit of a learning curve? I played um the Palmer Cup at Prewick and No, I didn’t take to it. I I got I played four matches, went 0 and4 and I don’t think I made it past like number 14. So, I I got worn out. I didn’t I I couldn’t understand there because I kept trying to chip with a lob wedge and I kept trying to chip it into the air and the the ground the ground being so firm was was so unique that I just I couldn’t get adjusted to it. You feel like you first figured it out. Yeah, I wasn’t I won I won the deer in 14 and was the last guy in the field at Liverpool that year. Um and wasn’t wasn’t super excited about coming over. I mean, I did just didn’t really fancy my chances. And after I played that week, I was like, “Wow, I just I can’t believe how much I enjoyed that.” That was like I just I love being able to hit these, you know, stingers off of the tea that go a million yards. And I don’t know, I just just really kind of took to it and then, you know, played terrible the next six opens and then started playing better over here. Number two, please. Ryan, we’ve seen some of the best drivers in the world struggle through two days to kind of drive the ball on this course. I was just wondering what the unique challenge is that this course in particular strategically presents off the team. I think it’s the crosswinds. Um seems like every it seems like you never get it straight in or straight down. It’s there’s always a little you know there’s just there’s so much crosswind if if your ball if you can’t fight that wind a little bit. It’s just really hard to keep it from from missing the fairway on the downwind side of whichever way it’s coming. one. So, Brian, I remember like 23 on on Friday. You were top 10, but kind of under the radar like and and then you were not making much of it either. So, I I wonder if this is a completely different position or you take it the same way. Um, I mean, I’ll approach the weekend the same way. Um, you know, the only thing I’m really worried about is the first T- ball tomorrow and then I’ll try to hit the next one up there close to the flag and if not, you go to the second hole. I mean, it’s it’s a very boring uh approach that I take. You know, I’m not trying to be heroic or do anything crazy. I I know that I’ve got the game to do it and it’s just a matter of executing and staying within my own head. I also remember a big part of your recovery was a big piece of steak. Is it the same now? Big piece of steak. I love steak. Yes, I I do love steak. Number one, please. Brian, maybe related to that, but when you were at High Lake, there was a big deal made about your hunting hobbies. Were you surprised by that? And is it still a big thing that you do between golf? Yeah, I I’m big hunter, big fisherman. Um I I was surprised that uh yeah, I was surprised a little bit. I I was curious why everyone’s asking so many questions about it. I didn’t realize everyone was so upset about it, but it’s a it’s it’s a hill I’ll dial and I I got I have no you know I sleep like a baby at night. Just just sorry on on highlight when you got in front there you were relentless machine like to get over the line. Is that what you’d love to do again to just have that? Yeah, I would love I would love to have a a similar weekend uh and just play play great the whole way through. But you know there’s going to be challenges. This is a hard golf course and the the pins have been in really really tough spots and you really got to think your way around it. So, you know, inevitably you’re going to mis hit some shots and end up in some spots that you don’t want to be in and the way that you handle that will determine, you know, the outcome of the tournament. For sure, Doug, but you do know that when someone says, “What did you know, what did you shoot today?” They they mean your golf score. Yeah, I’m I’m aware of that. I’m I’m a very compartmentalized guy, you know. Well, I’m not I’m not thinking about hunting when I’m golfing. I ain’t thinking about golfing when I’m hunting. Why it seemed like it went quicker today? What took so long yesterday? Why was it better today? We uh we waved up on five, which I think helped a little bit. And then, you know, I think this championship’s unique and and you know, it’s the same as Augusta, but just a much bigger field where everyone goes off the first TE. You know, we split TE’s at the at the Open and at US Open and the PGA, but you know, when you got threesomes off one TE and there’s 156 guys, you know, you got a drivable par four on the fifth and then reachable hole in the seventh. I mean, it just bottlenecks right there. And that’s where most of the time gets spent. It’s not like it’s not the guys are taking any longer to play, but you know, we probably waited a good 40 minutes at least to hit golf shots yesterday. And what what’s the closest um clean card today? Best I can tell. I think it wasn’t. What’s the closest um you came to making bogey or was it that stressfree? I had to get up and down on 11 um from short right of the green. It was a nice up and down. I had to make about a sixfooter. That was the hardest one I had. Question number three, please in the back there. Hi, Brian. Um when we when tournaments come to link courses, we like talking about the roll back ball or golf ball roll back. Yeah. Um, does it ever make you think when you play at a course like this, if tournaments were held at golf course like this all the time? 100 100%. Yeah, that’s nail on the head there. It’s um, you know, I mean, we could we could talk all day about the golf ball. Um, you know, I I think I’m not going to say that we need to roll it back, but it’s it’s like the golf ball is so stable. It’s like the golf ball will accept speeds of up to 200 miles an hour and and that just hasn’t been the case. And so guys have kind of got that figured out and so they’re just way laying on it because they know that it’s not like the spin of the ball doesn’t go up with speed like it did when I was a kid. Does it ever make you think though when if every I know it’s unrealistic if every tournament that you play in was at a course like this there’d be any talk of a golf ball roll back at all? No, I I I don’t I don’t I I think that anytime that you can play at a place where the further the ball misses from the middle of the fairway, the worse off you are, if if that held at every tournament that we played, then we wouldn’t be having a conversation at all. Number two, please. Brian, you waited a long time to to win a major. When you when you won the opening, how much did that change you as a person, as a as a as a competitor? Did it make you more relaxed or more hungry to win more? Yeah, I mean I I I think I was quoted afterwards like, man, I’d spend the rest of my life trying to, you know, get in a position to feel this again because it is it’s the top of our profession, major championships. So, yeah, anytime you can get in contention, have a chance to win. I mean, that’s what we’ve all worked for our entire lives, and you know, you don’t get that many opportunities to do that. In the middle, please. Brian, how would you describe the way you’ve played the last two years since your victory at the Open? Um, you know, I I’ve done okay. I feel like that I’ve, you know, before before 23, I’d elevated my game to a different place than where it had been previous in my career. And I’ve I’ve maintained there, maybe dropped off a little bit. I just haven’t I haven’t, you know, I haven’t sustained winning. you know, I’ve won this year, which was fantastic. Um, just and competed one other time, but just just really trying to get in contention a little bit more, trying to, you know, find whatever it is that that clicks it clicks it on because when it’s on, it’s really really good. I just trying to figure out a way to to make that happen a little bit more. And when you thought about where you might be able to win the second major, is the open the one that jumps out as like this is your place? Yeah, I love I love the golf over here. I mean, it’s it suits me, you know, it’s not, you know, distance of course matters over here, but it doesn’t matter as much as as maybe some other tournaments. And it doesn’t matter because the ground is so firm that the ball rolls. And there’s just there’s just a million different ways to to play over here. Um whereas at some other majors, you get you get kind of stuck into this. Well, I’m gonna swing as hard as I can off this T-ball and try to hit this seven iron as high as I possibly can and hope it stops. Bob, please. similar question, but after you won, did did you have any difficulty getting focused again or, you know, getting dialed in again to try to do it? And and did did you sense any lulls in your game at all or or frustrations, you know, at times like you would have before? I actually I actually think it’s made me probably more patient with myself just knowing that um that you’re capable of something like that. like you know it’s in there and it would be really easy to get you know when things aren’t going your way to get frustrated but you know it’s all just hey you know you start seeing some signs that things are going the right way and it’s like all right well here you know so it it um I actually think I’ve I’ve been pretty patient the last couple years without having you know the results that that maybe I should have had if that makes sense in the back then Brian how would you describe how you were treated at this tournament before you were the champion and then how big of a difference is when you’re walking through practice rounds, playing in rounds, how different is it now? Yeah, I mean they they have um incredible respect for the game. They’re the golf overall fan knowledge over here is is unbelievable. They all they all play. They they love the game and and being an open champion over here is really cool. I mean, they they know who you are. They have respect for you. Um, yeah, it’s, you know, like I said, I love coming over here. It’s, um, as far as golf, I mean, it’s as pure as it gets. I guess the respect factor, too, is what I wanted to get at is just the feeling of how much more people regard you here because it’s a different type of championship. Yeah. Yeah. But if you go back to August, you know, and you’re you’ve won you’ve won the Masters. They’re going to treat you differently than if you haven’t won one. I mean, that’s it. It would be the same at probably every major. But me personally, I I like like I said, I I love coming back here. I I love all these courses. They’re, you know, it’s a lot of fun to play over here. We have any final questions? Yep. Number four. Have you found a good steak place in Port Rush? Uh, I’m not I’m not going to talk about y’all’s steak places over here. there. It’s different. I I I don’t mind it, but no, I have not found a a good steak place yet. You got you know any? No, I was hoping you’d recommend. Maybe you’ll cook yourself. All righty. Well, speaking of steak, I think lunch is calling. So, thank you very much for your time. Thank you.