6-7 sucked the air out of the tournament. Backward hats injected energy into the crowd, but birdies on Nos. Harman marched on without emotion, just the gloves hanging from his capaciously large umbrella. While the stakes may have been higher and the plot thicker, the conclusion was the same. However, we had seen this movie just 24 hours ago. Rahm lurked in the rear view and grew larger once his first birdie effectively cut Harman's advantage to three. With rain pelting down on the field and McIlroy making his patented early charge, he ran into some adversity with a pair of early bogeys. In a repeat of the day prior, Sunday's start was no breeze for Harman. He saw his lead cut to two strokes just five holes into his third round, but it ultimately returned to where it began heading into the final 18. There were moments where it felt as if Harman would never get across the finish line. 26 - who will enter the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings with this victory - was unfairly compared to unlikely champions of the past like Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton. Stepping into the latter stages of the tournament with a five-stroke advantage, the world No. Intrigue grew with the ebbs and flows of the championship, but so did the chips on Harman's shoulders. In fact, his 106 putts on the week were the fewest by an Open winner over the last two decades. He kept his head down and plodded along as cheers for his competitors' birdies (and his own bogeys) were hollered from the crowd. While the Hoylake faithful willed on the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm, Harman went to work in blue-collar fashion. Harman's weekend was emblematic of his competitiveness. In doing so, he joined the likes of Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Peter Thomson, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy to raise the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool. Harman, who became the 15th American to win The Open in the last 20 years, maintained the successful 100% conversion rate of 54-hole leaders who have taken a five-stroke-or-greater advantage into the final round at majors since 2000. This year alone, he missed the cut at the Masters and PGA Championship before finishing 42nd at the U.S. Since he last won on the PGA Tour 2,268 days ago, Harman had made 167 starts with 32 top 10 finishes. He became the first American since Stewart Cink in 2009 to claim his first major at an Open, and at age 37, became the oldest first-time major winner since Sergio Garcia won the 2017 Masters at age 37. Harman at 13 under entered the winner's circle to grasp his first major triumph with a six-stroke victory over Jon Rahm, Jason Day, Tom Kim and Sepp Straka, who all tied for second. But when that final putt dropped, he was undoubtedly the best golfer this week, silencing all doubters and claiming the Claret Jug. Harman was not the most popular player in Hoylake, England he was neither the best ball striker nor the most impressive driver. Despite not having won on the PGA Tour since 2017 and entering the week with 175-1 odds to claim his first major championship, Brian Harman on Sunday rode a sterling putting performance all week at Royal Liverpool to victory at the 151st Open Championship and the title of Champion Golfer of the Year for 2023.
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