Brian Harman drained a 15-foot eagle putt at the last hole for an exclamation point on his round of 65 catapulting him to a five-stroke lead midway through the second round of The 151st Open Championship on Friday in Hoylake, England.
Harman was bogey-free on Friday and started the day one off the pace at 4 under. He walked to the clubhouse sitting at 10-under 132 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, which barely challenged Harman’s penchant for fairway-finding and clutch putting.
The lefty from Georgia rolled in three long birdie putts at Nos. 2-4 before tapping in a fourth straight birdie at the par-5 fifth. Harman then saved 12 straight pars before driving the green in two at the par-5 18th.
“Made two really nice pars on 16 and 17,” Harman said. “I think that’s just as important, to where I felt kind of freed up on 18, and I made probably my two best swings of the day and got up there to 12, 15 feet for eagle.”
Harman, 36, has never won a major. He tied for sixth at The Open last year at St Andrews and tied for second at the 2017 U.S. Open. He said the key this time around will be not to get caught up in the moment.
“It’s just golf,” Harman said. “I’ve probably — I think when I held the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open, I just probably thought about it too much. Just didn’t focus on getting sleep and eating right. So that would be my focus this weekend.”
Englishman Tommy Fleetwood was one of three co-leaders after 18 holes, but as of 3:15 p.m. local time he stood alone in second at 5 under par as he was beginning his round. France’s Antoine Rozner (4 under) won’t tee off till 4:05.
South African amateur Christo Lamprecht and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo, the other first-round leaders, went the wrong way Friday morning. Grillo shot a 3-over 74 and Lamprecht bogeyed five of his first seven holes.
Min Woo Lee of Australia shot a 68 to move into a tie at 3 under. That group includes Jordan Spieth and U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, just getting their afternoon rounds going.
Other notables playing in the afternoon wave include Scottie Scheffler (1 under), Brooks Koepka (1 under), Xander Schauffele (1 under), Patrick Cantlay (1 under), defending champion Cameron Smith of Australia (1 over) and Rickie Fowler (1 over).
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland birdied No. 18 for a 1-under 70 to get to 1 under for the championship. In the same group, Jon Rahm of Spain bogeyed the 18th; he also turned in a 70 but has more to sweat out at 2 over par.
The top 70 and ties will make the cut, currently projected at 2 over.
Australia’s Travis Smyth (8 over) won’t play the weekend, but he made the first hole-in-one of the championship at the new par-3 17th hole. With a 9-iron from 132 yards away, Smyth’s tee shot took one long hop and rattled into the cup.
–Field Level Media
