Brian Harman secured a fourth PGA Tour win of his career as he won the Valero Texas Open in fine fashion ahead of The Masters.
Harman battled his way to a three-shot win despite carding a three over final round and Ryan Gerard posting three under to close the gap.
With The Masters coming up, Harman will be delighted to get a win under his belt and will now go to Augusta full of confidence.
Of course, Harman was slammed by fans for his slow play and that will be something to keep an eye on at Augusta for if rules officials pick up on it.
Furthermore, Harman may actually need to play a lot better than he did in Texas to have a chance of winning, with one particular stat shining a light on a poor element of his game.
Brian Harman does something not seen since Jason Day in 2010 by winning The Texas Open
With Harman winning by three, you’d assume it was plain sailing for the former Open winner.
However, it was not the case really as Harman relied on his game in and around the greens more than once to bail him out.
In fact, so much so, that his stats for hitting greens in regulation was the worst for a PGA Tour winner since Jason Day in 2010.
In a stat shared by Justin Ray, Harman only hit 17 from 36 GIR in his final two rounds, something not done on the PGA Tour since Day won at the Byron Nelson 15 years back.
What Brian Harman said about Augusta National after winning The Texas Open
As Harman goes into Augusta, he’ll be one of the players under the radar who can, if he produces, sneak into the weekend and cause an upset.
Upset might even be harsh, given he is a major winner already, which very much shows he can deliver on the biggest stages.
However, the American has warned about getting ahead of himself, with Harman admitting that Augusta can bring people back to earth with a bump.
“I think Augusta has a way of snapping you right back into reality, that course can be such a challenge. I actually think this is a really great warmup — not to diminish this golf tournament at all, this is a very incredible golf tournament, hard one to win, but this is a great warmup for Augusta,” Harman admitted.
“Augusta gets tricky winds, Augusta has pins that are perched up on top of spots just like they are around here. For me, I took a couple years off of this golf tournament and then when I came back and it’s beautifully over-seeded, like man, this is about as good of prep as you can get for Augusta.“
Ranked among many as an outsider for the event, it will be interesting to see how the big guns start at The Masters and if someone like Harman can throw a spanner in the works.
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