FedExCup Playoffs: Brian Harman returns from break after dominant British Open win
Brian Harman, fresh off his win at the British Open last month, is back to start the FedExCup Playoffs this week in Memphis
Brian Harman is ready to part with the Claret Jug.
He’s not returning it. He’s just finally leaving home without it following his dominant win at the British Open.
Harman, who won his first major championship at Royal Liverpool last month, is back in the field this week to kick off the FedExCup Playoffs at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. Though he’s several hours from it now, the iconic trophy will be safe and sound on his kitchen counter — where he insists it has to stay for the entire time it’s in Georgia.
“I will say that life is better as a major champion than not,” Harman said Tuesday. “It’s been a wild ride, man. I’ve kept the Claret Jug right on top of our kitchen counter. My wife has asked me to move it several times, and it’s like, no, that’s a hard no. It’s going to stay right there.
“I’ve caught myself walking by looking at it and be like, ‘Damn, man, I still can’t believe it happened.’ I’m very grateful, very thankful. It was a very wild experience.”
Harman absolutely dominated the final major championship of the year last month in England. The 36-year-old won the British Open by an incredible six shots after fending off the rest of the field for days at Royal Liverpool. They even started engraving the Claret Jug by the time he reached the 13th hole Sunday afternoon. His win was never in doubt.
While the partying stage of his celebration — something he admitted he did a little too hard — is now over, Harman is still trying to wrap his head around it even on the driving range at TPC Southwind.
“There's like different layers of it sinking in,” Harman said. “So I go visit my family, we rented a lake house, and after a few days I started feeling kind of normal, and then I go home and I have this just overwhelming support and a greet-and-meet at the airport. Then it takes a few days for that to sink in.
“Then yesterday I come out here to hit balls, and I was seeing all my fellow players, and it's the first time I had seen them, and everyone is congratulating me.”
The win pushed Harman into the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings and into contention to make the U.S. Ryder Cup team. He’s also No. 6 in the FedExCup standings entering the first of three playoffs events.
At this point, he’s clear to qualify for the Tour Championship at East Lake, though plenty can happen between over the next two tournaments.
Harman hasn’t finished worse than T12 in his last four starts, though he’s taken the past two weeks off and hasn’t done too much golf-related. Once he gets back into the flow of things over the next few days, Harman hopefully can just pick up right where he left off.
“[I] was trending before the Open,” Harman said. “Haven't done a lot the last couple weeks so we're going to be knocking some rust off for a couple days, but I'm hoping to be ready to go by Thursday.”
