It might not be the most popular outcome at The Open so far but Brian Harman is leading on eight under after a brilliant second round at Royal Portrush.
Harman often comes under fire for his speed of play and with players like Marc Leishman complaining yesterday, the game is once again under the microscope.
However, Harman simply got on with his job in the second round at Portrush and carded a brilliant round of six under to move to the summit of the leaderboard.
The 2023 winner is bidding to win his second Open Championship after running away with it in 2023 at Royal Liverpool and winning by six shots.
As anyone who watches golf knows, Harman is not the most entertaining player.
Still, for the man himself, it matters little, and he’s revealed his ‘boring’ tactic in trying to win again.
Brian Harman explains his tactics to try and win The Open
Brian Harman might not be ‘box office’ like a Bryson DeChambeau or a Rory McIlroy but he knows how to get around a links golf course.
The American could well take some stopping now he’s in the lead and speaking to the media afterwards, Harman admitted he’s not doing anything special.
“I’ll approach the weekend the same way. The only thing I’m really worried about is the first tee ball tomorrow, and then I’ll try to hit the next one up there close to the flag. If not, go to the second hole. It’s a very boring approach that I take,” Harman admitted.
“I’m not trying to be heroic or do anything crazy. I know that I’ve got the game to do it, and it’s just a matter of executing and staying in my own head.”
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What Brian Harman said about slow play on day one of The Open
While the finger hasn’t been directly pointed at Harman this time around, round one was a painful experience for players and viewers.
Some players had been out over 3 hours before even getting to the ninth hole, something that is simply unacceptable.
When questioned on the issues on day one with pace of play, Harman did his best to try and explain.
“We waved up on five, which I think helped a little bit. Then I think this championship is unique — it’s the same as Augusta but just a much bigger field where everyone goes off the 1st tee, and then we split tees at the U.S. Open and the PGA,” Harman explained when commenting how play had picked up on day two.
“When you’ve got threesomes off of one tee and there’s 156 guys, you’ve got a drivable par-4 on the 5th and reachable hole on the 7th, it just bottlenecks right there. That’s where most of the time gets spent.
It’s not like guys are taking any longer to play, but we probably waited a good 40 minutes at least to hit golf shots yesterday.”
Going into the weekend, Harman will know full well what he needs to do get over the line.
But with weather conditions set to change and a field behind full of stellar names, he’ll know his work is far from done.
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