The Open debrief: What Brian Harman’s win means for the Ryder Cup and FedEx Cup Playoffs

Brian Harman is the Champion Golfer of 2023.

Today’s Golfer’s 2023 Major coverage is brought to you in association with TaylorMade.

Brian Harman was never going to be the fashionable winner of The Open Championship at Hoylake.

He was the underdog all week, the 200-1 outsider whose stay at the top of the leaderboard was only supposed to be temporary.

Even with a five-shot lead heading into the final round, there was still a feeling among spectators that the smallest man in the field was keeping the seat warm for Rory McIlroy or Jon Rahm behind him. But golf rarely follows a perfectly-prepared script.

This was Harman’s shot at redemption, six years after squandering a 54-hole lead in the US Open at Erin Hills. He had last tasted victory 2,258 days ago.

A wobble was to be expected but the 36-year-old American didn’t blink. He made six bogeys all week and bounced back with a birdie on four occasions. By the time he got up and down for par on the 18th to finish six shots ahead of his nearest competitors on 13 under par, his victory parade was already in full swing at Royal Liverpool.

These are the main takeaways from the 151st Open and where it leaves all the runners and riders ahead of the FedEx Cup and Ryder Cup.

1. Brian Harman, the ‘Butcher of Hoylake’

Brian Harman had to overcome a lot to win his first major championship. He talked about the self-doubt, the heckling from spectators, and the nerves that come from having two of the world’s top-three players breathing down your neck.

It helped that he gave himself a five-shot headstart on Sunday, but The Open can do funny things to some people. Just ask Jean van de Velde.

There was to be no dramatic ending, just a procession for a man who averaged just 283 yards off the tee and stayed in control of his game from start to finish. Only Tiger this century has won by a bigger margin at The Open.

Harman gained field-high 11.57 strokes putting and missed just one of 60 putts from inside 10ft. Proof perhaps that you do drive for show and putt for dough…

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2. Jon Rahm comes up short in quest for an Open and Masters double

Jon Rahm knew he had to go low to have a chance of reeling in Harman. He got within three shots of the lead at one point, but in truth he never looked like stringing together enough birdies to stop Harman from getting his hands on the Claret Jug.

Instead, he had to settle for a four-way tie for second, alongside Tom Kim, Sepp Straka and Jason Day, to go with his victory at The Masters.

3. Sepp Straka surges into Ryder Cup contention

It’s easy to forget that Sepp Straka is eligible for the European Ryder Cup team. Although he was born in Austria, he moved to America when he was 14 and has been playing on the PGA Tour for the last five years.

This year he’s really kicked on after losing in two playoffs last season, most notably when he won this month’s John Deere Classic by two to claim his second PGA Tour title.

A runner-up finish at The Open couldn’t have come at a better time for the 30-year-old and should see him move behind Matt Fitzpatrick on the World Points list in the race for the final automatic qualification spot. It could come down to who performs best in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

4. Tom Kim shows his potential

Despite nursing a grade-one tear in his ankle, this was a continuation of Tom Kim’s coming-of-age performance at the US Open last month.

The 21-year-old, who finished in a tie for eighth at LA Country Club, bounced back after a disappointing opening round at Hoylake to shoot three successive rounds in the 60s.

A four-under-par 66 in the final round catapulted Kim from outside the top 10 and into a tie for second, further underlining his status as golf’s next big thing after becoming the youngest man since Tiger in 1996 to win twice on Tour before the age of 21.

A tie for 6th at the Genesis Scottish Open would suggest he’s already got the hang of links golf.

5. Rory McIlroy’s wait for a major goes on

Sunday marked Rory’s 20th top-10 finish in a major since his last win at the 2014 PGA Championship, the most of any player in that span.

There were flashes of brilliance throughout the weekend, but the damage was done after the first two rounds when Harman raced off into the distance and Rory couldn’t break 70.

It means he will now head to Augusta National next year without a victory in his last 35 starts in major championships.

6. Putting woes plague Scottie Scheffler

Tee to green, Scottie Scheffler has been the undisputed No.1 all year.

The stats mark him out as the best driver and iron player on the PGA Tour, and it was a similar story at Hoylake where he finished in the top five for both strokes-gained: off the tee and approach.

Where he fell short – and has done for a while – is on the putting green, which saw him ranked 149th of 156 players in strokes gained: putting at Hoylake and finish 13 shots behind Harman in a tie for 23rd.

It makes you wonder how prolific he could be if he manages to find a putting fix, especially as he has not finished outside the top 25 in his last 20 starts, dating back to October 2022.

He also ends the major season with the best aggregate score of all 12 players who made the cut in all four championships.

2023 aggregate major leaderboard

-18 Scottie Scheffler
-16 Viktor Hovland
-15 Jon Rahm
-10 Brooks Koepka
-7 Xander Schauffele
-5 Patrick Cantlay
-4 Tommy Fleetwood
-2 Cameron Smith
+3 Hideki Matsuyama
+4 Patrick Reed
+6 Tyrrell Hatton
+12 Ryan Fox

7. Alex Fitzpatrick beats his major-winning big brother

For years, Alex Fitzpatrick watched his big brother play out his own dreams. This week was his first shot at the big time after coming through Final Qualifying, and he made the most of it by finishing as the highest-placed Fitzpatrick in a tie for 17th, four shots ahead of Matt.

That might be worth more than what he won in prize money.

1 Brian Harman (-13), $3,000,000
T-2: Jason Day (-7), $1,084,625
T-2: Tom Kim (-7), $1,084,625
T-2: Jon Rahm (-7), $1,084,625
T-2: Sepp Straka (-7), $1,084,625
T-6: Emiliano Grillo (-6), $551,250
T-6: Rory McIlroy (-6), $551,250
T-8: Shubhankar Sharma (-5), $403,350
T-8: Cameron Young (5), $403,350
T-10: Tommy Fleetwood (-4), $308,400
T-10: Max Homa (-4), $308,400
T-10: Matthew Jordan (-4), $308,400
T-13: Thomas Detry, (-3), $232,875
T-13: Viktor Hovland, (-3), $232,875
T-13: Hideki Matsuyama (-3), $232,875
T-13: Henrik Stenson, (-3), $232,875
T-17: Laurie Canter, (-2) $187,900
T-17: Alex Fitzpatrick, (-2), $187,900
T-17: Xander Schauffele, (-2), $187,900
T-20: Tyrrell Hatton (-1), $163,067
T-20: Sungjae Im (-1), $163,067
T-20: Antoine Rozner (-1), $163,067
T-23: Byeong Hun An (E), $121,500
T-23: Stewart Cink (E), $121,500
T-23: Rickie Fowler (E), $121,500
T-23: Nicolai Hojgaard (E), $121,500
T-23: Adrian Meronk (E), $121,500
T-23: Alex Noren (E), $121,500
T-23: Louis Oosthuizen (E), $121,500
T-23: Scottie Scheffler (E), $121,500
T-23: Matthew Southgate (E), $121,500
T-23: Jordan Spieth (E), $121,500
T-33: Richard Bland (+1), $84,113
T-33: Patrick Cantlay (+1), $84,113
T-33: Wyndham Clark (+1), $84,113
T-33: Romain Langasque (+1), $84,113
T-33: Patrick Reed (+1), $84,113
T-33: Adam Scott (+1), $84,113
T-33: Cameron Smith (+1), $84,113
T-33: Oliver Wilson (+1), $84,113
T-41: Alexander Björk (+2), $58,725
T-41: Matt Fitzpatrick (+2), $58,725
T-41: Min Woo Lee (+2), $58,725
T-41: Hurly Long (+2), $58,725
T-41: Victor Perez (+2), $58,725
T-41: J.T. Poston (+2),  $58,725
T-41: Marcel Siem (+2), $58,725
T-41: Jordan Smith (+2), $58,725
T-49: Abraham Ancer (+3), $45,933
T-49: Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+3), $45,933
T-49: Brendon Todd (+3), $45,933
T-52: Corey Conners (+3), $43,433
T-52: Ryan Fox (+4), $43,433
T-52: Michael Stewart (+4), $43,433
T-55: Zach Johnson (+5), $41,375
T-55: Adrian Otaegui (+5), $41,375
T-55: Andrew Putnam (+5), $41,375
T-55: Gary Woodland (+5), $41,375
59: Brandon Robinson Thompson (+6), $40,500
T-60: Bryson DeChambeau (+7), $39,900
T-60: Rikuya Hoshino (+7),, $39,900
T-60: Kurt Kitayama (+7), $39,900
T-60: Scott Stallings (+7), $39,900
T-64: Padraig Harrington (+8), $39,025
T-64: Brooks Koepka (+8), $39,025
T-64: Guido Migliozzi (+8), $39,025
T-64: Richie Ramsay (+9), $39,025
T-68: David Lingmerth (+9), $38,033
T-68: Sami Valimaki (+9), $38,033
T-68: Danny Willett (+9), $38,033
T-71: Joost Luiten (+10), $37,550
T-71: Robert MacIntyre (+10), $37,550
T-71: Thomas Pieters (+10), $37,550
T-74: Thriston Lawrence (+11), $37,300
T-74: Christo Lamprecht (+11)*
76: Zack Fischer, 13, $37,175

*Denotes amateur

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8. Christo Lamprecht finds a silver lining

The British Amateur Champion never did manage to repeat his heroics from day one, when he posted the second-lowest opening round by an amateur in the history of The Open Championship.

Rounds of 79, 76 and 74 sent the 6ft 8in South African tumbling from tied first to tied 74th (of 76 players) on 11 over par, but it wasn’t all bad news.

The 22-year-old won the Silver Medal, given to the top-performing amateur of The Open, by virtue of being the only one to make it through to the weekend at Royal Liverpool. He also took away a lot of positives from his major championship debut.

“I guess I told my caddie yesterday it’s been a week with every bit of emotion felt, kind of coming off a high on Thursday and just not having it the last three days,” Lamprecht said.

“It was a little bit disappointing, but obviously standing here being the last amateur standing and getting the Silver Medal this afternoon, it puts a smile back on my face.

“I think if I don’t take a lot of lessons away from this week, I haven’t achieved my goal of being here and wanting to play in a major as an amateur.”

9. Matthew Jordan’s homecoming ends in celebration

If Michael Block was the story of the PGA Championship, then Matthew Jordan was the hometown hero of Hoylake. A member there since he was seven, the 27-year-old made the most of his course knowledge to scrape just inside the top 10 on just his second major appearance.

As a result he’s secured an exemption into next year’s Open at Royal Troon, as well as a bunch of much-needed World Ranking and Race to Dubai points as he looks to wrap up a place in the DP World Tour Championship in November.

He also revealed he’ll be back playing at Royal Liverpool next weekend, with his girlfriend and sister’s fiancee as guests. He’s probably got a membership for life now.

10. Jason Day joins an elite club

No one likes finishing second, but Jason Day did complete a ‘grand slam’ of sorts by becoming only the ninth man in history to finish second in each of the four men’s major championships.

The only other players to achieve such a feat are Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Louis Oosthuizen, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Craig Wood. 

11. Justin Thomas is on the outside looking in

One of the biggest peculiarities of this season concerns the form of Justin Thomas – or rather the lack of it.

The 2022 US PGA Champion is going through the same kind of slump Jordan Spieth experienced after winning The Open at Royal Birkdale in 2017. He has already fallen outside the automatic places in the US Ryder Cup standings and has now missed the cut in four of his last six starts.

Thomas branded his performance at the US Open “a total failure” after rounds of 73 and 81, and his performance at Hoylake wasn’t much better.

On day one, he chipped into the bunker on the 1st from little more than 10ft away and then endured a nightmare finish to his round after hitting his tee shot out of bounds on the 18th. He eventually signed for a quadruple-bogey nine which equated to an 11-over par 82, tying his worst-ever score on the PGA Tour.

To his credit, he returned a level par 71 in the second round, but there’s still a very real possibility he will miss the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the first time in his PGA Tour career.

Only the top 70 will make it through to the FedEx St. Jude Championship next month and he’s currently outside the cut-off point alongside the likes of Shane Lowry, Adam Scott and Alex Noren.

He’s already signed up to play the 3M Open, an event he’s never played before, next week, but he’s only got one more tournament after that to turn his fortunes around.

We’ve already been told by the people on the ground in Rome that you need to be driving and putting well if you’re going to have any chance of competing at Marco Simone. At the moment Thomas is doing neither.

12. The big Ryder Cup repercussions

Zach Johnson’s job as Ryder Cup captain has just got a whole lot harder now Brian Harman has effectively secured his ticket to Rome alongside World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and other major winners this year, Brooks Koepka and Wyndham Clark.

That leaves just eight places up for grabs from a shortlist of stars that includes Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Jordan Spieth, Keegan Bradley, Tony Finau, Sam Burns, Cameron Young, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and Talor Gooch.

It’s a nice problem for Johnson to have, but there’s going to be some big-name casualties when he does finalize his team on August 29, the day after the conclusion of the FedEx Cup. We’ll ready the popcorn.

13. Ernie Els takes aim at PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan

Running hot after carding a four-over 75 in the first round, Ernie Els did what every angry golfer does and decided to get a few things off his chest in an interview with Sports Illustrated. His target was PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan, and he didn’t hold back in what he thinks about the framework agreement between the PGA Tour and Saudi Public Investment Fund.

“If this happened in my day, in my prime, there’s no way he’s around,” said Els, a two-time Open champion. “No way. And the board has to change. You do sh*t like this. I’m sorry, it’s not right.

“Talk to us, tell us what you’re going to do, plan on negotiating. Don’t just go rogue as a member of the board and come back with a deal and think we’re all going to say yes? You’re affecting people’s lives. You’re affecting the professional game. It’s just so bad.”

He went on to describe LIV as “circus golf” and referred to the impending deal as a “shambles”.

But don’t worry, next time we’ll ask him what he really thinks.

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– R&A open to Saudi investment
– R&A on high alert at Hoylake after revealing protestors targeted St Andrews last year
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– Meet Christo Lamprecht, the 6ft 8in amateur who everyone is talking about?
– Justin Thomas faces a fight to make the Ryder Cup after his Open horror show

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