MERSEYSIDE, England— Georgia men’s golf alum Brian Harman won the 151st Open Championship with a 13-under final, winning his first major and becoming the first former Bulldog to win the event.
Harman shot 67-65-69-70 for a 271 total to win the event by six strokes ahead of four golfers tied for second, including fellow Bulldog alum Sepp Straka. Harman and Straka become the first players from the same school to finish first and second at The Open Championship in the same year.
Harman opened the event shooting four-under on the first day holding fourth place. He made his jump to the top of the leaderboard on day two, where he birdied four-straight holes on the front nine and ended the day with an eagle on 18 to finish at 10-under, giving himself a five-stroke lead heading into the third round.
On Saturday, Harman began the day with bogies on holes one and four but bounced back with four birdies to keep the field at bay, ending the day again ahead by five strokes. With rainy conditions providing a final test on Sunday, Harman remained poised and finished the day one-under to earn the Claret Jug.
The 2006 Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year, Harman joins Bubba Watson as the second Georgia golfer to win one of the four major tournaments, with Watson capturing the 2012 and 2014 Masters Tournament championship.
Harman has now won his third Professional Golf Association event, with his previous best major finish was a t-second place finish at the 2017 US Open.
Straka’s t-second finish at seven-under is his second top-10 finish in a major, previously finishing t-seventh at the 2023 PGA Championship in May. The 2016 All-American now has five top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour in 23 career events played.
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