HOYLAKE, England — Brian Harman put the British Open to sleep on Saturday and it never woke up on Sunday.
There turned out to be a lot more raindrops around Hoylake than drama in the final round.
The “Butcher of Hoylake,’’ which the British tabloids dubbed Harman because of his affinity to hunt and butcher his own wild meat, butchered the British Open field.
The 36-year-old Harman cruised to victory at the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool, capturing his first career major championship and first win of any kind since 2017.
Harman finished on 13-under par, six shots clear of runners-up Jon Rahm, Sepp Straka, Tom Kim, and Jason Day (7-under) and eight better than tournament favorite and world No. 2 Rory McIlroy and Emiliano Grillo (6-under).
In the process, Harman all but secured a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, vaulting up the points list with the victory, which comes with double points.
McIlroy never mounted a serious charge, playing well early and then plateauing to a 3-under 68 for the day.
Tommy Fleetwood, who’s from an hour up the road from Hoylake in Southport and listened to fans willing him on as “Tommy lad,’’ also never mounted a challenge, finishing with a 72 and closing at just 4-under.
Westchester’s Cameron Young, who finished runner-up at last year’s Open after shooting 65 in the final round, was in second place entering the day, five shots behind Harman and in the final pairing. But he never got it going, either. He shot 71 and finished 5-under for the week.
So, the last man standing tall and hoisting the fabled claret jug in the rain was the diminutive 5-foot-7 Harman, who entered the week having won only two PGA Tour events in 339 starts, posting 50 top-10s along the way.
Harman was positively unflappable all week, but never more than on Sunday, when the entire field was willing him to come back to the pack after he took a five-shot lead into the final round.
The end result appeared to be in doubt for maybe 10 minutes on Sunday.
There was a stretch when Harmon hit his tee shot into a gorse bush on the par-5 fifth hole and had to take an unplayable lie stroke for it.
That precipitated a bogey on the hole to drop him to 10-under, just three shots ahead of Rahm at the time.
Harman then promptly birdied the par-3 sixth hole to get back to 11-under and take a four-shot lead, and then he buried a 24-foot birdie putt on the par-4 seventh hole to get back to 12-under and bring the lead back to five shots, where it began at the start of the day.
No one would threaten him from there.
When Rahm, who appeared to be Harman’s biggest competition, bogeyed the par-3 ninth hole to fall to 6-under, Harman’s lead had ballooned to six shots.
When Harman made a curling, uphill bomb of a birdie putt on the 14th hole to get to 12-under, and then birdied No. 15 to get to 13-under and push the lead to five again, Harman all but sealed the victory.
Padraig Harrington, who spoke with admiration this week about Harman’s grit and the chip on his shoulder he carries from always being overlooked, after finishing his final round Sunday talked rather prophetically about how Harman would handle his final round.
“Brian Harman is a very dogged person,’’ Harrington said. “He’s the right person to hold a lead like that. He hasn’t won a major, but he’s a very tough, experienced character. Sometimes, we see somebody leading a tournament and you kind of go, ‘Oh, is he going to hang on?’ I don’t think that’s the case with Brian Harman.
“Nearly every day, he goes out on the golf course he’s like playing with a chip on his shoulder like he’s fighting something. I think this is ideal for him.’’
Harrington was spot on.
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