HILTON HEAD — Brian Harman was right there in the hunt for the title on the back nine of Harbour Town Golf Links Sunday within a shot of the lead after a birdie on the par-4 13th hole at the 57th annual RBC Heritage.
But the University of Georgia and Savannah Christian alum had back-to-back bogeys at the par-3 14th hole and the par-5 15th that set him back.
The 38-year old kept his head down and finished with a flourish with an approach shot inside two feet for a kick-in birdie on the tough 18th hole.
He shot 69 in the final round in his 16th appearance at Harbour Town and closed out the tournament in a tie for third at 14-under par, his best finish in the RBC Heritage. He was three shots back after 72 holes of eventual winner Justin Thomas, who beat Andrew Novak on the first playoff hole with a birdie at No. 18.
Harman has been playing some excellent golf. He had his fourth PGA Tour win two weeks ago at the Valero Texas Open and entered this tournament at No. 24 in the World Golf Ranking after the first victory since his win at the 2023 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.
“If I had four or five swings back over the tournament, I think I would have been right there,” Harman said. “I did my best, but was still short. But I enjoyed it — as you get older, you certainly take those times in contention … you sit around a little bit longer and try and soak it in a little bit.”
Harman drained a 22-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fourth hole and converted from 17 for another birdie on the par-4 sixth. He made another long putt from 23 feet for birdie at the 12th, and then cashed in on a 110-yard approach to six feet for a birdie at the par-4 13th.
He bogeyed the par-3 14th when he missed the green left and missed a four-footer to save par. On the par-5 15th, his second shot found the water, and after taking a penalty stroke, he missed a nine footer for par. He lipped out a 16-footer for birdie on No. 17, then dialed in a 9-iron to 21 inches on the last for a closing birdie.
“I finally played that hole (No. 18) like it’s supposed to be played. I just wish I could have had a couple swings back on that back nine,” said Harman, who lives on Sea Island. “But I wouldn’t have done anything different. I felt really good over the ball. Hole 14 was just odd, and then 15 was a nothing lay-up; I probably got little cute with it trying to get it down there to get a perfect number and should have been a little more focused on trying to get it into the right quadrant of that fairway.”
The 5-foot-8, 155-pound lefty had a strong contingent of supporters as he always does at Harbour Town, where he made his first appearance in a professional tournament as a junior at Savannah Christian in 2004 at the age of 17, when he got a sponsor’s exemption after winning the 2003 U.S. Junior Amateur the summer before.
“This place is real special to me. It’s nice to play in front of so many friends and family, and everybody did a great job,” he said.
Harman said he will take a couple weeks off before coming back for a run of four straight tournaments starting with the Truist Championship in Philadelphia May 8-11. He’ll play in the PGA Championship May 15-18 at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C., where he won his second PGA title at the Wells Fargo Championship in 2017.
“The game feels great. I’ll take a couple weeks off and rest up,” Harman said. “I’m pretty tired. I’m pretty worn out. It’ll be nice to rest up and try to come back and get back in contention as quick as I can. That’s the best feeling in the world — being in contention.”
In the meantime, Harman is looking to spend some quality time with his family and enjoy one of his favorite pastimes in hunting.
“Yeah, turkeys aren’t going to be safe the next few days,” he said with a laugh.
Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at [email protected]. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN
