WEBVTT - Takeaways from the 2023 Open Championship 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.840 I miss a green, for example, I'm already upset. When 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:04.960 I find my ball in the bunker, I'm really upset. 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:05.920 And when I find my. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:08.360 Ball in a bride Egg Friday Egg the Dread and 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:11.959 Friday Friday Frida Egg Egg, Frida Egg, Bride Egg Lie, 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:13.720 I'm about ready to run off of the hump. 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:37.279 Welcome to the Frida Egg Podcast. I'm Garrett Morrison, and 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:41.360 today we are recapping the twenty twenty three Open Championship 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:45.640 at Royal Liverpool. Brian Harmon pretty much ran away with 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:48.519 the tournament. He took the lead with an incredible sixty 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.000 five on Friday and he stayed well ahead of the 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:54.040 field the rest of the way, ended up winning by 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:59.240 six strokes. I've definitely seen more exciting majors, but there's 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:03.440 plenty of interesting stuff to discuss. So in this episode 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:06.000 we're going to dig into two big stories from the 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:09.720 Open with two different guests. First up, we have Sean 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.360 Martin of PGA tour dot Com talking about the champion, 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:17.080 Brian Harmon. Sean is very familiar with Harmon, having covered 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:20.280 Harmon's amateur career, and by the way, you may not 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:22.679 have known much about Harmon before this week. But he 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:26.880 was an exceptional amateur golfer. After Sean, we'll call in 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:30.039 Joseph Lamania for a few takes on the golf course. 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.520 Royal Liverpool was a compelling venue, I thought, and it 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:37.720 had some unusual traits that maybe other championship golf courses 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:40.759 can learn from. Joseph is the author of the Finding 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.280 the Edge newsletter, which he should check out, and a 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:46.319 contributor to the Frida Egg. All right, let's get to 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:49.280 it right after this break, you'll hear from Sean Martin. 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:01.760 Our first sponsor for this episode is a new one, 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:04.720 Ores and Alps. Ores and Alps was founded by two 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:09.000 women with outdoorsy husbands, so they know what sun wind 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:12.200 and pollution can do to your skin. 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So Oris and Alps have 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:33.680 a huge range of skincare products. Go to Orisonalps dot 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:36.760 com to start building your kit, and when you go there, 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:41.880 use code egg fifteen to get fifteen percent off all products. 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:47.360 That's Orison Alps dot com. Code egg fifteen for fifteen 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:57.360 percent off all Right. Back to the episode, Sean Martin, 0:03:57.520 --> 0:03:58.840 Welcome back to the podcast. 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:00.840 How you doing good? How are you? 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:05.160 I'm doing okay. Did you have a weird sleep schedule 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:05.600 this week? 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:08.760 I did not. I think being on the East Coast, honestly, 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:10.200 I can keep it pretty normal. I get it at 0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:12.280 five am most days, so I hadn't missed too much 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:13.640 when I woke up. Maybe there were a couple of 0:04:13.680 --> 0:04:16.760 four thirty alarms. Did a little bit of watching it 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:18.400 on my phone in the gym, trying to keep it 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:21.160 a fairly normal schedule. I still have a day job, 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:23.720 still have kids to take care of, so I didn't 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:25.599 go too far off the rails. No I know Brendan 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:27.640 or Andy or any thing like that. Nothing overnight. 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:31.359 I mean. I think Brendan is similar in the sense 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:35.119 that he's a dad too. Wakes up early anyway, Andy 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:37.599 as well. Andy. Andy wakes up early. But being on 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:40.520 the East Coast does a major advantage here. I always 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.440 get a little bit screwy during open Week because the 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:46.920 first day I stay up late to watch the beginning right, 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.800 and then I try to reverse it as the week 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.240 goes on, and that's the big challenge. 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:55.120 I grew up in California, so I remember the open 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:59.120 being on so early. I was shocked my first few 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:01.279 years when I lived in Florida at how late it 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:04.080 seemed to come on almost because I mean with eight 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:06.160 hours being from California, you could turn that thing on. 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:06.320 It. 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:08.920 Yeah, you turn on the night before if you wanted to, 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:12.320 and so it is even that three hours definitely makes 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:13.120 a huge difference. 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:17.280 Yeah for sure. All right, So Brian Harmon is our winner. 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.320 What are a few things that you think he did 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:25.240 better than anyone else this week? Because he clearly was 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:26.600 a cut above. 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:28.800 And I think the big thing was the potter. We 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:30.240 all saw it. It was hard to miss it. It's such 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:32.720 a big putter, which makes for plenty of jokes. 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.680 Golf scene from space, Yeah, it's it shows up in 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:37.120 satellite imagery. 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:38.880 Between Crystal Lamprect and Brian Harmon. 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:39.799 Golf. 0:05:39.839 --> 0:05:42.160 Twitter definitely got its fill, probably went over its rate 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:45.000 limit on high jokes. I think you know it's harmy 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:45.640 right away. 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:47.400 At a certain point it gets a little bit mean, 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:49.920 right like, I mean, the guys come on, you know 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:52.560 he can't he can't help it. But yeah, Crystal lamb practice. 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:55.560 I haven't seen the photo yet of them. We just 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:57.880 wrapped up the tournament. There is going to be a 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.240 photo of the two of them standing next together to 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:01.680 each other, presumably. 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:03.160 And Kyle Porter made a great call pulling out the 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:05.600 air and judge jose Al Tuove photo it definitely fit. 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:07.000 But yeah, I mean the first thing was the potter, 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.159 which is one of Brian's strengths. And then you know, 0:06:09.240 --> 0:06:11.280 coming from your own Twitter handle, it was I think 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.359 he hit in two bunkers all week and I thought 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:18.360 even you saw it the first five holes Sunday, you know, 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:20.120 he hit it in some spots and it got a 0:06:20.160 --> 0:06:22.880 little squirrely, but I mean he really minimized the damage 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:25.160 playing those. I think in one over after he made 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:27.239 the birdier and then quickly getting it back with the birdies, 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:29.159 and and that was another big thing too, is the 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:31.000 bounce back. I think Justin Ray had the stat I 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:33.400 think six bogies all week and he followed four of 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:37.120 them immediately with birdies. So it was just the control 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:40.040 of staying out of trouble, staying out of the pop bunkers, 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.760 and then just putting fantastically. You know, I think you 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:45.520 can get away with a little more at a links 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:47.280 course because you have the option of running it up 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:50.120 it's one right reason why we see older players contend 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.880 as well, because you know, it's not like it's immediately 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:55.160 hack out or I can't carry down to the screen. 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:58.320 A guy like Brian Harmon, who's very creative, who talked 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:00.920 about his love of hitting a variety of shots. As 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:03.520 long as he's at a spot where he can move forward, 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:04.760 he has a chance to get it on the green 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:07.159 because he can, you know, use the ground and finagle 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:08.640 something and roll something on there. 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:13.120 One quick correction, Brian Harmon actually was in three bunkers 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:15.520 this week because he found one on the final hole 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:19.560 of the tournament, and so we tweeted that out prematurely 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:23.520 and got pretty owned in the replies. So three bunkers, 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:27.920 but he was in two of those bunkers, you know, 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:30.640 through seventy one holes. Two bunkers. Both of them were 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:35.320 on Friday when he played extraordinary golf, a sixty five 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:39.760 bogie free and he was in a bad position in 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:42.440 a fairway bunker on the twelfth hole, had to play 0:07:42.440 --> 0:07:46.480 out backwards, missed the green on his long approach and 0:07:46.520 --> 0:07:49.400 proceeded to chip in. And so that's the kind of 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.080 day that it was for Brian Harmon On Friday. It 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.680 was not an easy golf course, and he played as 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:59.000 good of golf as I think you can play in 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:02.480 those conditions, so it was super, super impressive. I believe 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:05.320 he gained eleven strokes putting over the week, So that 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:07.240 was kind of the story. And this is sort of 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:10.440 how players win at Royal Liverpool, right, just the control 0:08:10.560 --> 0:08:11.680 and a good putting week. 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:14.800 Yeah, and really, I mean, outside of the actual the 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:18.040 game itself, the most impressive thing probably was how he 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.120 kept it together. Sitting on the lead for fifty some 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:24.000 odd hours. You know, you're sitting there, You're spending multiple 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:27.200 days going to bed and trying to not think about 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:30.160 how you're on the precipice of this goal that you've 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:33.600 devoted your entire life to. And you know, even on 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:35.440 the golf course, you know, so many other other sports 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.560 are reactive and they last, you know, ninety minutes, let's say, 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:41.040 and there's constant you know, it's just about reacting to 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:43.920 what's going around you. Golf is hours on the golf course, 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:47.160 minutes between shots, and you have all this time that 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:50.120 you're just still not doing anything really, and then trying 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:52.120 to hit a stationary golf ball and you're just alone 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:53.920 with your thoughts, and so really that was the most 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:56.920 impressive thing because after Friday, with all the putts he 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.640 made the chip in for par you know, everyone's screaming regression. 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:01.760 Can't keep it up. You know, putter's gonna cool. We're 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:03.360 gonna see him go by the wayside, even with this 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:06.360 five shot lead. And that's a very reasonable take. So 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:09.920 for him to withhold it all, to still play strong 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:14.240 and steady on the weekend while also having to withhold 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.440 or withstand the pressure of a five shot lead is humongous. 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:22.199 You know, with a one shot lead, you are you're 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.320 not looking too far ahead. But when you're five shots 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:26.600 ahead for that long, it has to be so hard 0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:30.080 to just keep everything in control and even try to 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:32.080 get a good night's sleep and just go out and 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:33.040 perform the next day. 0:09:33.760 --> 0:09:37.120 Yeah, you know, usually it's a good theory that somebody 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:42.520 who is leading a tournament primarily because of a super 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:47.920 hot putter might not be a sustainable leader of that tournament. 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:51.000 Usually that's like a pretty solid way of thinking. But 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:55.079 in Brian Harmon's case, he is an extraordinary putter, right, 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:57.880 He's one of the best putters in the world, and 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:02.960 so yes, he was, even by his standards, exceptional this 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:06.560 week on the greens, but it wasn't that surprising to 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:09.600 see him keep it up on Saturday and Sunday with 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:10.280 the putter right. 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.120 And also, you know, after two rounds we screamed small 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.000 sample size, small sample size, regression. It's like, well, four 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.080 rounds is still a really small sample, and I mean, really, 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:22.520 a golf career, golf season is a series of small samples. 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.480 Four days is a really small sample. Seventy two holes 0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:27.040 of stroke play, you know, is a good way to 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:32.120 identify the best player. But also there it's just a 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:34.679 small lest sample that there is still variants and randomness 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:36.640 that come into play. And just because a guy has 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:38.360 a hot putting round or two doesn't mean necessarily that 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:40.880 he's going to regress to the mean. I mean, careers 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:43.280 are made on these small sample sizes. It's about putting 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.760 four good rounds together. It's not about one hundred and 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:49.199 sixty two game season. It's you know, Brian Harmon's year, 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:51.400 His career is made by these four rounds and what 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:52.920 he did in these four rounds. He could miss the 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:55.200 rest of his cuts for the rest of the decade 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:57.439 and he's still the Open champion. He still has a 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:02.360 satisficate saturdaye so is satisfied with being the Open champion. 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:04.240 He's still gonna be on that Ryder Cup team. And 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:06.400 I think that's one of the crazy things about golf, 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:07.840 and I love seeing it in a story like this. 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:11.079 This guy's thirty six years old, he's been a professional 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:14.440 for more than a decade, and his career will be 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:17.640 defined by these four rounds. His life changed in a week. 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:19.520 And that's the great thing about golf where I think 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:22.240 it's different than other sports that no matter what he 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:25.360 does from here, he is the Open champion, all right. 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:29.559 I don't think many people are super familiar with Brian 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:34.240 Harmon's backstory, but you definitely are. When did you become 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:37.400 aware of Harmon the amateur player? 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.000 They're very familiar with his off course pursuits now, that's. 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:44.880 Yeah, the hunting and stuff, especially in the UK where 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.080 it seems like that has caused a bit of a 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:50.000 scandal that he likes to hunt. I think he's a 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:53.120 bow hunter, right, so this is not really a gun 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:54.280 thing necessarily, no. 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.000 And I do appreciate I mean, he eats what he kills. Also, 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:00.240 it's not this you know, sadistic type thing, which a 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:01.760 trophy hunter, right, he's not. 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:02.640 I'm not sure. 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:04.560 I have to tell you where their hamburgers come from. 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:07.679 But that's another topic. But yes, Brian Harmon, he was 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:09.520 in this great sweet spot in my career where I 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:11.720 worked at Golf Week and it was a great role 0:12:11.760 --> 0:12:14.960 of covering college golf and you get to know players well. 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:17.760 They're excited to talk to the media because usually they've 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:20.199 done something well. And I was there from two thousand 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.959 and six to twenty thirteen, and Brian Harmon's amateur career 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.080 was two thousand and five to two thousand and nine, 0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:29.040 pretty much his college career. But even before that being 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:32.640 a humongous golf nerd I mean early two thousands, the 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.760 era of like the Laker, you know, yellow and Purple 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:37.960 Shaft and the titleist nine to seventy five D and 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:40.880 the titlest nine nineties. Like in that era of golf, 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:46.640 Brian Harmon was the guy in junior golf, I mean, 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:50.679 absolutely dominant. And this is before Speeth, this is before 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:53.400 we kind of got accustomed to teenagers really getting into 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:57.240 two events and even making cuts and playing well. It 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:01.040 just was not there was a larger gulf between the 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:03.280 amateur game and especially the junior game. Then there was 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:06.880 the professional game, and he was just the guy. Two 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:09.760 time AJGA Player of the Year. He won the US 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:12.160 Junior in three. The next year he was the medalist 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:14.040 by eight, which is over thirty six holes, so he 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.760 beat the field by eight at Olympic Club. I was 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:18.839 looking if you lost to Brian Harmon in stroke play 0:13:18.880 --> 0:13:20.840 at the two thousand and four US Junior by nineteen 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:24.840 shots over two rounds. He still made match play. And 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.240 then later that summer he made a PJ Tour cut 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.240 at age seventeen. He was calling his players playing partner's mister. 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:31.760 You know, I think he played a role in Thatcher 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.840 and he called a mister Thatcher would say, sir, I 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:36.800 mean he was. And then he played in that Walker 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:38.720 Cup team with Anthony cam at two thousand and five. 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:40.440 He was the youngest American ever to play in the 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.640 Walker Cup. It was just stuff that, you know, Speeth 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:45.400 and Thomas came along and did it. But at that 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:47.560 time guys were not doing that. That was it was 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:51.280 really unheard of, and he was he was the man. 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.240 He lost his way a little bit at Georgia. He 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.640 describes as being a little banged up, had some trouble 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.240 kind of making the adjustment. He has spoken to about 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:03.000 just taking some time at each level to adjust. But 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:04.920 then he did play another Walker cup in O nine 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:08.600 to close out his college career, so two time Walker Cupper. 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:11.360 But even when he turned pro, he missed his first 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.800 two Q school attempts at first stage and was playing 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:16.400 what was called the E Golf Tour at the time, 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:18.920 playing the mini tours. So an interesting career in the 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:20.560 fact you had a guy who was really kind of 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:24.720 unprecedented in a bit. I mean, you had Tiger and 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:26.520 Field befo him, but he was in really rarefied air 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:29.640 as a junior golfer. Good college career, but I don't 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.760 think really was what would have been expected from him. 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:35.040 And then comes out of school and is playing mini 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:36.840 tours for two years because he misses a Q school. 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.600 So this teen phenom who also had to overcome some 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:41.920 adversity to get to this level. 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.800 A couple of fun stories out there about Brian Harmon 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:50.600 as a kid. First of all, what did you learn 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:54.160 about how Harmon got started in golf, how he became 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:58.360 interested in the game. It involved a tournament in nineteen 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.160 ninety seven, but maybe not the tournament you would expect 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:02.280 in nineteen ninety seven. 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:04.560 Yeah, a lot of people were inspired to play golf 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:06.520 in nineteen ninety seven, and they were inspired by a 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:10.600 double digit dominant victory. For Brian, it was Steve jones 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:13.880 eleven shot win in the Phoenix Open, which is still 0:15:13.880 --> 0:15:15.280 one of the I mean, he'd won the US Open 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:19.840 last or the previous year, so he was a guy, 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:21.960 I guess, but it was definitely one of the more 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:28.320 just random victories, if you will. And Brian he was 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:30.760 home from school that entire week. He couldn't remember if 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:32.960 he was sick or if it was spring break or 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:35.640 some sort of holiday, but he said he watched like 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.040 every minute of it. And also Tiger did make that 0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:40.000 hole in one at TBC scott Still that week, so 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.640 there was also the excitement around that. But I mean, 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:44.360 Brian says when he played a practice on with Steve 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:46.960 Jones when he got on tour, he told him, he goes, look, 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:48.960 you're the reason I got into golf, which I'm sure 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:51.440 had to just kind of, you know, take Steve Jones 0:15:51.520 --> 0:15:52.880 back a little bit. He probably has not heard that 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:56.200 statement too many times, despite being a major champion. But 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:59.920 Brian's parents didn't really play golf. He said the year 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:02.960 course was like two miles away, so literally would throw 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:05.120 the clubs on his back and bit two miles to 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:07.640 the nearby course, and within two years he was breaking eighty. 0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:10.440 Yeah. Wow, it's Steve john crazy. 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:11.720 I love that. 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:14.880 I mean, that's just so funny to me. But you know, 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:18.720 also I don't want to insult Steve Jones because this guy, 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:22.960 as he said, was a real player. Another story that 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:27.120 I love about Harmon as a young golfer is one 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.120 that gets told a lot on Twitter these days. That 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:33.240 might be a little bit overplayed in some ways, but 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:37.040 I believe that you were the initial reporter to put 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:41.680 this story out there about what happened at the two 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:45.200 thousand and nine nc Double A's. Brian Harmon at that point, 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:49.160 I believe, is a senior at Georgia and he comes 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:52.960 up against Ricky Fowler. Could you tell me how this 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:55.960 match ended up unfolding in the end. 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.280 Yeah. So we're at Inverness in toled Ohio, the famous 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:02.280 Inverness Club, the first year the ncla's had gone to 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:04.920 this match play format, and the two teams that year 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:10.240 are Oklahoma State and Georgia. Oklahoma State has Fowler Morgan Hoffman. 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:12.360 I want to say Kevin Tway is also on that team. 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.000 He might have been a year later. And Georgia is 0:17:15.040 --> 0:17:18.680 some iteration of Harmon Harris English Hudson Swafford. I mean, 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:21.320 just two teams that are stacked with future tour players, 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:25.440 and you have stroke play qualifying and Georgia does not 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:29.680 play well, and they actually tie for seventh place in 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:35.040 stroke play and the tiebreaker. So the best man in 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.000 my wedding actually played in that nine text A and 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:40.560 M team that goes on to win. They tied for 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:46.000 seventh with Georgia and my friend Matt. He was the 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.480 fifth man on that team. His score never counted in 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:51.920 the stroke play, but the tie breaker was your fifth 0:17:51.920 --> 0:17:56.239 man score, and so text A and M because his 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.840 fifth man score beat Georgia's fifth man score. Georgia was 0:17:59.840 --> 0:18:02.160 the eight seed, tex An M was the seven seed, 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:05.320 and Oklahoma State had one going away, and so they 0:18:05.320 --> 0:18:08.359 got text A M got to avoid Oklahoma State, the powerhouse, 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:10.520 and it set up really the one to two matches 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:18.000 in the first round. Unfortunately, so I believe then coaches 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:19.719 didn't set the matches. It was just based on your 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:23.159 golf stat ranking. So it's Ricky falavers Brian Harmon and 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.160 Ricky I don't know the exact details, but he's leading. 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:31.320 He makes a putt and after the fact you find 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:33.199 out that it was just kind of an oversight that 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.960 Ricky and Mike McGraw left the green without putting the 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:40.400 flag in. But you know Brian Harmon, you know, being 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:43.640 a smaller guy, he is very fiery. 0:18:44.880 --> 0:18:47.000 And maybe a little chip on his shoulder. 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:50.240 Exactly totally, and he will admit that and sees the 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:53.920 flag now put in, and that just grinds his gears 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:56.040 and he goes on, I believe, to birdie four holes 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:59.720 in a row, the last four holes to win the match, 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.399 for Georgia to win the team match in advance, and 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:05.160 I mean it did it. Put I mean Ricky Feller 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:06.919 had to go into the locker room, and I mean 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:08.719 he came out and his eyes were red. He had 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.680 been crying. And then text Am goes on to win, 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:15.480 and my friend Matt the Great, the late great ROMBLICKI 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:18.280 wrote this great article about how Matt this like upstanding, 0:19:18.320 --> 0:19:23.320 like good GPA community service, all this stuff helped text 0:19:23.320 --> 0:19:26.040 am win with, you know, by being the fifth man 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:28.840 who's the throat score contributions greater than his his golf. 0:19:28.880 --> 0:19:30.240 I think was the way they phrased it, which base 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:32.360 was like it wasn't that good, but like he did 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:34.520 help them win, and he has the ring to prove it. 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:36.919 So we always joke about that as well. But I 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:39.320 mean it was Brian Harmon in a nutshell of a 0:19:39.440 --> 0:19:43.879 very just a good competitor, good ship on his shoulder 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:45.200 that I think we saw this week. And actually I 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:49.879 do have one more texting with Justin Huber about about 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:51.800 Brian Harmon, because I was looking at those two thousand 0:19:51.840 --> 0:19:54.200 and four US Junior scores and I think Hubert lost 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:58.320 to him by twenty four and Justin says he warmed 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:01.520 up to him. Warmed up next at the Olympic Club range. 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:03.560 He says he was a better wedge player fifteen than 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:06.199 I ever was. He hit the pan at least twice 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:08.040