Brian Harman’s unexpected triumph at the Open Championship

Another Open Championship, another chapter of a legend. There’s no competition, there’s no major that counts, it’s a question of tradition, of a continuous struggle between prowess and nature, of a tournament that is renewed every year, every summer on a different field. We are in Royal Liverpool, among the oldest greens in England, the first national amateur tournament was held here, where Harry Vardon, JH Taylor and the legendary French ambidextrous Arnaud Massy won, the first non-British to win the Open before Bobby Jones, Fred Daly, Peter Thomson, before the latest successes of Tiger Woods in 2006 and Rory McIlroy in 2014. He was once again the big favorite, first and only player in history to complete the Northern Triple, Scottish, Irish and Open Champion, the third title right here. In great shape after last week’s victory in Scotland and ready to face the difficulties of the course such as the infamous 17th hole, just redone, the real novelty of the Hoylake course. Not even prohibitive in length, 140 yards certainly for everything else, sand in front and behind a raised and very undulating green, deep bunkers to the right and to the left and above all a breathtaking landscape, Wales two miles away and the wind from the sea that transform any flag shot into a kind of miracle.