There’s a tradition, unlike any other if you will, where the Claret Jug is returned by the previous year’s champion to the R&A on the Monday before the championship and, invariably, for the player concerned, with the hope that the following Sunday it will be handed over again in the opposite direction.
This time, it was Brian Harman’s turn.
Yet, the odds of it being returned to him on the 18th green of Royal Troon come the conclusion of this 152nd edition of golf’s oldest Major remain heavily stacked against the left-handed American. Not since Pádraig Harrington won at Royal Birkdale in 2008, a year after his breakthrough win at Carnoustie, has a player gone back-to-back in winning.
If you want a pub quiz question, of course, you can deliver the answer that Shane Lowry also held the Claret Jug for two years. But, in his case, that was because the 2020 championship was not held due to Covid, so that Lowry – the 2019 champion at Royal Portrush – got an extra year as custodian.
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Harman’s time came as planned, returning the trophy to R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers in a carefully orchestrated handover, arriving in an electric Mercedes van to awaiting cameras and snappers.
“In my opinion, it’s the coolest trophy in all of sports. So I think it’s deserving of all of the pageantry that is involved with it,” said Harman of being part of the tradition.
That win at Royal Liverpool last year provided Harman with a career high point, and he has enjoyed the 12 months: “I’ll remember everywhere it’s been forever. I’m happy to give it back, happy to be here. Ready to get going.”
This time, it’s as defending champion. A different kind of challenge to flying in under the radar.
He knows it.
“Anytime that you become a Major champion, it certainly elevates your status in the game, elevates the way that you’re perceived in the game. I try to take all of that in my stride, but at the same time understand that the golf is the most important thing, and I’ve tried to improve my golf game and get it in a place where I can maybe contend in some more Majors down the road,” said Harman.
He hasn’t won since lifting the Claret Jug – he was runner-up to Scottie Scheffler in The Players in March – but is taking the attitude that a return to links terrain, and the different challenge which it asks of players, will again bring out the best in him.
“I think that’s probably one of the most important things when you’re playing links golf, being able to hit a piercing golf shot that stays underneath the wind. Being able to work the ball against the wind, whichever way it’s blowing.
“A lot of times, if you let a ball kind of go with the wind, it has trouble stopping going that way. Yeah, that’s the rub of the Open Championship and links golf in general. You’ve got to control the trajectory on your golf ball. That’s what makes this my favourite Major to play in because that’s still a skill that I think is very important and sometimes gets lost in some other places,” he added.
So, he’s informed of how hard it is to win back-to-back. He’s told of how you have to go back to Harrington in 2008.
“My stats this year have been really good. My ball striking has been as good as it’s ever been. The only thing I haven’t done well this year is I haven’t putted especially well. I’m just kind of waiting for it all to line up correctly.
“You can work and work and work. You just never know when that work is going to pay off. You never know when the peak is coming. You never know when you’re going to catch a little bit of momentum. So you just have to hope it’s a big week.
“You never really know when it’s coming. Like I said, I’ve worked really hard, and my game is in really good shape. I’m happy with what I’m going into this week,” he concluded.
