The new champion of The Open has been in love with golf since childhood
At the age of two, Harman followed his parents to live in the residential area of Southbridge Golf Club in Savannah, Georgia. At that time, his father was a dentist, loved football, and his mother was a chemist, interested in athletics, especially running. During the first 10 years at Southbridge, Harman, despite his conditions, still did not pay attention to golf, mainly because of his passion for baseball.
Then it's time for Harman to like golf, like it was meant to be. In 1997, Harman, then 10 years old, was absent from school due to illness. The day he had to stay at home, he turned on the TV to kill time, just in time to stream the Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour and saw Woods score a hole-in-one, and the championship belonged to Steve Jones. "At that point, I thought to myself, I have to give it a try," Harman told Golf Digest.
After the Phoenix Open closed, Harman immediately began to practice golf. One day, he ran into Jones and revealed his inspiration: "You may think I'm crazy, but I entered this sport because I saw you hold the cup. It must have been the result of hard work." When Jones heard it, he encouraged Harman to his best.
Harman to work, from the back lawn. When his mother found out, she told her husband: "Eric, come and see." After observing a few shots, the father realized that his son had a talent and created conditions for maximum cultivation. Harman gets to go to the training ground every day. The fee for each basket of practice balls is about 2 USD, so he brings 10 USD, combined with "stretching" to be able to study the technique as well as hit a lot, for a long time. The yard side is also generous, sometimes giving a few extra baskets.
Seeing that Harman diligently practiced and also to reduce costs for young talent, a training ground manager took the initiative to meet with parents and offered to collect a preferential fee - 200 USD for a year of comfortable batting. The Harmans immediately agreed. Thanks to that, the boy quickly improved, from the training ground quickly to the big one and often played tournaments.
In 2003, Harman won first place in the national junior amateur tournament. From then until 2008, he was a star on both the University of Georgia golf team and the national level.
Harman was born right-handed, but when he played baseball, he "diverged" - swinging the club on the opposite side, throwing the ball on the right side. In golf, he also swings the club on the opposite side and is automatically assigned to the Lefty side. This precept, when swinging the stick, use the right hand to guide, and the left hand to exert the dominant force.
In 2009, Harman started playing golf professionally. Three years later, he entered the PGA Tour, went through 339 PGA Tour tournaments with two cups and received a total prize money of approximately $29 million by the time of The Open 2023. This tournament closed on July 23 with the championship belonging to The Open. back to Harman, aged 36. He set a -13 win mark but was by an overwhelming margin – six strokes from runner-up.
With that result, Harman won three million dollars and became the third representative in the Lefty world to win The Open, after Bob Charles in 1963 and Phil Mickelson in 2013.
