Brian Harman did not have his best things on Sunday in Valero, but he was good enough to end a master’s dream.
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Brian Harman knew he would need his good Sunday at Valero Texas Open to keep Andrew Novak away, who needed a win to score his masters ticketIn terms of bluster in TPC San Antonio.
The 2023 open champion did not bring his best things, but it was good enough to keep Novak not overcome him and make plans of the last second for the first grandmother of the year.
As the winds crashed into the Lis course at TPC San Antonion, Harman opened the door in the nine in front. He did Bogey Nr. 4 and no. 6 before going to a clip with a double noise in the ninth. He went out to 39, and with the time he made the turn, his superiority was in one over Novak and two over a strong load Ryan Gerard, who also needed a victory to reach Augusta National.
But only when it seemed as if Texas’s brutal conditions would get the best of him, Harman calmed down at 10 and 11. He poured into a bird’s blow 15 meters in 12 to push the lead into two. A Bogey Back Novak in the 13th made it a deficit with three strokes on Novak and five over Gerard, which ended in six under. Harman and Novak exchanged birds at No. 14, and both became 15 to keep the difference in three. Another Bogey from Harman to no. 16 trimmed the spread to two, giving Novak a last blow to his first PGA Tour’s career victory and a trip to Augusta.
But Novak could not benefit from Harman’s obstacles. The 30-year-old Pro made a clumsy noise at no. 17 and made a mess of the ending hole to give Harman a stress -free walk in his fourth PGA Tour victory and the first since the 2023 open championship. Harman took the lead with 36 holes in the strength of his iron game, but the left had to rely heavily on his short game. By Golf Statistics Guru Justin RayHarman became the first player from Jason Day to the 2010 Bureau Nelson to hit 17 or fewer greens in the weekend regulations and won.
“Just having a little experience and knowing that the result was a relatively today, it was more of a kind of attraction,” Harman said after winning the hard weekend. “Conditions just wouldn’t allow a super low score. I didn’t have my best things today, but good enough to do some strokes, and a couple of birds in nine back helped.”
Harman’s 75th Sunday was the highest score of the last round by a PGA Tour winner since Jon Rahm won the 2020 commemorative tournament.
On a difficult weekend, with the challengers trying to shoot him, Harman found a way to grind a victory and go to Augusta with the necessary momentum. Theelli was to stay in the moment and not go in front of him as he headed to the finish line.
“I have had to learn that difficulty on the difficult road with a gang of failures throughout my career, where you would look back on a tour, like Gosh, if I could only have kept my calm for a little longer, if I could have hung there for a little longer, maybe I could have done a run,” Harman said. “So I just tried really very hard today to prevent my emotions from going forward. As much as I wanted to think of winning and holding the trophy and calling my wife and telling her how happy I was, you don’t have to do it until the work is done. Just left foot, right foot, and then have fun.”
Novak, who completed the race in Bermuda during the fall and was in the latest group at Farmers Insurance Open, leaves San Antonio still in search of his first PGA Tour victory. He agreed to fight his swinging Sunday and unable to understand the greens at TPC San Antonio. Unfortunately for Novak, his obstacles to the extension did not only dedicate him to him a chance to go to Augusta National. Those last two bogeys threw it from the second solo in a tie for the third, which knocked it out of Aon Swing 5 and Aon 10 next projections For RBC heritage.
“I played well,” Novak said after round. “I was in the last group again. I had a chance back again.
As for Gerard, the 25-year-old played his way to the top of the Aon Swing 5. After a year he passed by grinding on the Korn Ferry tour to recover his card, Gerard now believes he is in a better place to climb the Tour PGA and hopes that Top-10 conclusions in Texas are a sign of what will come.
“That taught me a lot,” Gerard said for his time in KFT last season. “There are a lot of really good players there and not everyone is playing in PGA Tour. There are many who play in Korn Ferry and there are many who play even at levels under it. I don’t have the right stay at the beginning of last year. A little more.
As for Harman, he will turn his attention to Augusta National with some peppers in his step. He knows that in 38, it is unclear how many other cracks in the green jacket he will get. He should use as much as possible of the opportunities he has left on the sacred bases of golf.
“Just knowing that there is a good golf there,” Harman said when asked how much Valero’s victory helps him go next week. “You know, I’m 38 years old, I’m no longer 25 years old. I know I’m taking, you know, a little softer, so you start to look like, man, how much chance I have in Augusta, how many other chances make me feel in the US, and all the things you want to do. Just knowing that I can go here in tough. next week. ”
Seduce
Golfit.com editor
Josh Schrock is a writer and reporter for golf. com before entering Golf, Josh was the interior of Chicago Bears for NBC Sports Chicago. He previously covered 49ers and Warriors for NBC Sports Bay Area. A native Oregonian and Uo alum, seduces and spends his free time walking with his wife and dog, thinking about how the ducks will break his heart again, and trying to become half a professor into pieces. A true romantic for golf, Josh will never stop trying to break the 90 and will never lose confidence that Rory Mcilroy’s main drought will end. Josh can be reached in josh.schrock@golf.com.
