The Open 2023: 16 things you didn’t know about Brian Harman

16 things you didn't know about Brian Harman.

Brian Harman – the new Champion Golfer of the Year – is a righty who plays lefty, loves hunting, hates social media and is part of a VERY exclusive club on the PGA Tour… Here’s 16 things you may not know about him.

1 Brian Eric Harman was born on January 19, 1987 in Savannah, Georgia.

2 Golf is the only thing he does left-handed.

3 His biggest thrill outside golf is bow hunting, and he learned how to skin a deer when he was just eight. The hobby led to him behind nicknamed “The Butcher of Hoylake” by the English tabloid press.

4 Always uses a quarter to mark his ball.

5 All his family members are world-class scuba divers and spear fishers.

6 At five foot seven inches, he’s one of the shortest golfers on the PGA Tour.

7 In college, Harman was a three-time 2nd Team All-American on the University of Georgia golf team. He won the 2005 NCAA Preview and the 2006 Isleworth Invitational. He also won the yearly award for highest Grade Point Average three times.

8 In 2003, Harman won the US Junior Amateur. He won the Players Amateur in 2005, and the Porter Cup in 2007, shooting a tournament record 22-under-par 258.

9 Harman played on the winning 2005 and 2009 Walker Cup and 2007 Palmer Cup teams.

10 His first PGA Tour win was the 2014 John Deere Classic. In 2015, Harman held the 54 hole lead at the Travelers Championship, but would miss the playoff, won by Bubba Watson, by one stroke and finished in solo third. He’s won almost $30 million in his career.

11 On August 30, 2015, at The Barclays at Plainfield Country Club in Edison, New Jersey, Harman became the third player in PGA Tour history to have two aces in the same round. According to the PGA Tour, the other two double aces came in 2006 by Yusaku Miyazato at the Reno-Tahoe Open and in 1955 by Bill Whedon at the Insurance City Open.

12 On May 7, 2017, Harman won the Wells Fargo Championship for his second PGA Tour title. He made a 28-foot putt on the 18th hole to win by one stroke over Dustin Johnson and Pat Perez, who finished at 9-under.

13 Harman married Kelly Van Slyke on December 13, 2014. They have three children. They live in Sea Island, Georgia.

14 He ranks first on the PGA Tour for putting inside six feet, second in bogey avoidance and third in distance from the edge of the fairway.

15 He’s 142^nd on the PGA Tour in driving distance, averaging 294.1 yards off the tee.

16 He’s not big on social media; he’s amassed just 16,000 Instagram followers in 12 years on Tour. He hasn’t tweeted since 2020.

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About the author

Chris Jones
Today’s Golfer Editor

Chris Jones is the Editor of Today’s Golfer magazine, Britain’s biggest and best-selling golf magazine.

Chris worked in newspapers, and for Bird Watching and MCN before joining Today’s Golfer in 2005. He became the editor of Golf World in 2007, building its audience and enhancing its reputation throughout Europe, and also edited Golf Illustrated, a luxury coffee table magazine, before returning to edit Today’s Golfer in 2013.

In the years since, Chris has taken Today’s Golfer to new levels of success, maintaining its place at the top of Britain’s golf magazine sales and increasing market share over its rivals. In 2020 he oversaw the merging of the magazine with Golf World, placing particular emphasis on the revered Top 100 Courses and Resorts rankings.

Chris lives in Cambridgeshire, where Today’s Golfer is produced, and has been a member of a number of the county’s courses, including Elton Furze and Peterborough Milton. He has also played a huge number of the world’s best courses, from Turnberry to TPC Sawgrass, and has traveled the world.

Playing off a 12-handicap, Chris is a classic amateur golfer, capable of both the sublime and the ridiculous. A long-hitter, he prefers the bomb and gouge method to the shorter fairway finder.

He plays a mixed bag of clubs, including Callaway woods, and TaylorMade irons.

You can get in touch with Chris here.