Brian Harman, who had not won a PGA event since 2017, played magnificently at the 151st Open Championship July 20-23 at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, Great Britain.

That made Harman, who lives in Syracuse, New York, $3 million richer, and since he plays left-handed, like this columnist, he was easy to root for. That said, Harman is not a big name on the PGA Tour, so consider this.

Hypothetically, you are running a stop of the PGA Tour and in your field you had Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, John Daly, Justin Thomas, Ernie Els, Darren Clarke, Shane Lowry, Charl Schwartzel, Sam Burns, Justin Rose, Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Harris English and Keegan Bradley. That is a very solid lineup of well-known names on the PGA Tour. What they had in common July 20-21 is that none of them made the cut at The Open.

The point on this is that Royal Liverpool and some difficult wind and rain brought them to their knees. You want more evidence of this? Only Harman (-13) in a field of 145 golfers finished under par in double figures, which is rare in PGA Tour competition.

Please do not feel sorry for any of the players who did make the cut in cold and wet conditions. Four players (Justin Day, Tom Kim, Jon Rahm and Sepp Straka) tied for second place, six shots behind Harman, and each of them won $1,084,625. It has not been that long since a PGA Tour event champion fell short of making $1 million.

When the weather was good, the players could score, as evidenced by Rahm’s 63 in the third round. But when it was rainy and windy, the majority of those in the field could not break par.

This speaks highly of Harman’s numbers, as he posted four sub-par rounds. Another tribute to the new Open champion is that he accomplished this without the size and strength of many members of the PGA Tour. He is listed at 5-foot-7 and 155 pounds.

The second coming of Chi Chi Rodriguez? Perhaps. Chi Chi is listed at 5-7, 150. Having played once with Rodriguez, this writer does not remember him being that tall.

*****

On the schedule this week is the Maine Golf Junior Championships for boys and girls Aug. 1 at Riverside.

Play Days are: Men at Martindale July 31, and women Aug. 1 at Norway and Fogg Brook Resort.

*****

With apologies to The Bath Golf Club, this column incorrectly reported on July 23 that the Yankees-Red Sox Challenge would be Aug. 17 at Waterville. It is being played this year at Bath. My bad.

Bill Kennedy, a retired New Jersey golf writer and editor now residing on Thompson Lake in Otisfield, is in his 11th season as Sun Journal golf columnist.

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