The Open: American Brian Harman wins Claret Jug; Shubhankar notches best finish for Indian

American Brian Harman may have walked away with the Claret Jug on a gloomy evening at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on Sunday with a dominant display, but equally impressive was the unwavering grittiness of Shubhankar Sharma, who finished as the only player with a bogey-free final round in demanding conditions to record the best finish by an Indian at The Open Championship.

Harman was never tested and won his first major with a score of 13-under par, six shots ahead of Korea’s Tom Kim (67), who played with a Grade I ligament tear in his ankle, world No3 Spaniard Jon Rahm (70), Australia’s Jason Day (69) and Austrian Sepp Straka (69).

In vicious weather conditions, where a constant drizzle made the golf course play extremely long and significantly different from the other days, Sharma was the only player who did not drop a shot. He finished with a one-under par 71 round and could have easily joined the group in second place, but could not convert several chances he gave himself with a magical display of ball-striking, especially over the back nine.

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On the 12^thhole, he missed a birdie putt from 10 feet, and then missed an even closer one – this one from 6 feet – on the 13^th. But the one that really hurt him was the 10-footer on the par-5 18^thhole, after hitting what he called his “shot of the tournament”.

Having laid up with his second, Sharma was left with a 203-yard third shot. His caddie Lyle felt he should hit a four-iron, but he was getting a ‘feel’ for a 5-iron.

“I was talking to my caddie quite a lot on that shot. We had a bit of back and forth where he said 4-iron but for some reason I felt like four was going to be too much. The feeling was very good today. I could feel how I was hitting it,” said Sharma.

“When it’s windy and rainy you can’t really go off TrackMan numbers, you have to feel everything. I just felt five would make it. I told him just give me five, I’ve got this. And I couldn’t have hit a better shot. Landed exactly just over the bunker, rolled up and a good putt as well. If there was one putt I wanted to go in, it was that.”

Sharma has won twice on the DP World Tour, but this eighth-place finish felt even more special.

“They were just very different conditions. However, this is the highest stage of golf, and it felt like this was a true Open Championship where we saw everything from wind to rain to slightly calm conditions to sun to cold,” said Sharma, who turned 27 on Friday.

“I’m very pleased that I held my own until the end. Especially the way I played today. For four rounds to keep it together to the end, very happy. A few putts could have gone in, but I also hit a lot of good putts coming in, so it’s fine.”

Sharma became only the third player from India to finish inside the top-10 in a major championship. Anirban Lahiri’s tied fifth at the 2015 PGA Championship remains the best showing in a major, while Jeev Milkha Singh was tied ninth in the 2008 PGA Championship. However, he did manage to better the Indian record in the Open Championship – a tied 27^thby Jyoti Randhawa in 2004.

It was Sharma’s best finish in six majors he has played so far and also earns him an invitation back to the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon. In his previous two Open Championships, he was tied 51^stboth times.

“This finish means a lot, and gives me a lot of confidence that I can play at the highest level, and I know what could have happened if I had made putts yesterday and today. I could have been double digits under par with the way I was hitting it,” said the Chandigarh-based pro.

“There’s so much more to build on. It’s exciting that it still feels like I could have played better than this. Which is very exciting for the future.”

Harman, who started the round at 12-under par, dropped shots on the second and fifth holes to slip to 10-under and within three of the chasing pack. But the 36-year-old knuckled down and made four birdies after that to finish on 13-under par, including a stunning 40-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole that came immediately after a bogey on the 13^th.

The first major of 2024 season will be The Masters, to be played in the second week of April.

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