Brian Harman delivers on Claret Jug promise in pub after winning The Open

24 July 2023 , 15:33

971     0

Brian Harman delivers on Claret Jug promise in pub after winning The Open

Brian Harman delivered on his promise to down Guinness from the Claret Jug on the back of his Open Championship victory at Royal Liverpool on Sunday.

Harman became the Champion Golfer of The Year after cruising to a six-shot victory in testing conditions at Hoylake in Sunday's final round. Having gone into the fourth round with a five-shot lead, the American maintained his position at the top with a closing one-under-par round of 70.

The victory was a special one for the 36-year-old, which came six years after his last at the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship, a run spanning 167 events. Having waited so long to get himself back in the winners circle, a celebration party was long overdue for Harman, and he did this in style. Speaking in his post-championship press conference, the PGA Tour star was quizzed on what he would fill the famous Claret Jug with for his winning tipple.

Without hesitation, Harman revealed the choice of drink would be Guinness and he lived up to his word just a few hours later. In a video shared on Instagram by caddie Aaron Flener, Harman was seen locking his lips around the Guinness-filled jug during his Sunday evening celebrations.

It is more than fair to say the the post-championship drink was a deserved one, after Harman separated himself from the rest in the wet and windy Merseyside conditions. Even after a tricky start with two bogeys through five holes, Harman always looked in control, with the chasing pack unable to apply any pressure on the runaway leader.

Bubba Watson shares details of horror knee injury ahead of LIV Golf debut

Despite his comfortable lead throughout the final two days, the 36-year-old admitted he did not think about getting his hands on the Claret Jug until he was safely on the green of the 18th on Sunday. There were fleeting thoughts [on winning] throughout the day," Harman admitted.

"But I told myself I wasn't going to let any of that come into my brain. So any time it came, I just thought of something else. I really honestly didn't think about winning until I had the ball on the green on 18." Despite his comfortable win, it was not all plain sailing for the Open champion.

Harman admitted on both Saturday and Sunday that he was heckled by members of the Hoylake crowd, but this only helped spur him onto victory. He commented: "After I made the second bogey yesterday [Saturday], a guy, when I was passing him, he said, 'Harman, you don't have the stones for this'. That helped.

"Yeah, that helped a lot. I think he was -- anyway, that helped. Anyway, it helped snap me back into I'm good enough to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to go through my process, and the next shot is going to be good."

Joshua Lees