Harbour Town Golf Links has always been a special place for Savannah native Brian Harman, who made his PGA Tour debut on the course as a 17-year old in the 2004 RBC Heritage after receiving an exemption to play as the U.S. Junior Amateur champion from the summer before.
Now the 38-year old is at No. 24 in the World Golf Ranking and playing some excellent golf after winning his fourth PGA Tournament title two weeks ago at the Valero Texas Open.
The University of Georgia and Savannah Christian alum had an excellent opening round Thursday as he shot a 5-under par 66 that sits in a tie for fifth place — five stroke behind Justin Thomas, who tied the course record with a 61.
Harman came out on fire as he birdied the par-4 first hole with a 12-footer. He kept his foot on the gas with an eagle on the par-5 second hole with an approach from 262 yards to 28 feet, where he drained an impressive putt. He birdied the par-5 fifth and holed a 24-foot putt on the par-4 ninth to make the turn at 5-under par 31.
He said the round should have been even lower after his only bogey of the day on No. 18, where he missed a short putt for par.
“I’ve been waiting on some good golf,” said Harman, whose victory in San Antonio was his first since taking home the Clarer Jug as the winner of the 2023 Open Championship. “I’ve been playing a lot better than I’ve been scoring, so I’m just going to try and take advantage of some good form and see what I can make out of it.”
Last year Harman tied for 12th at the RBC Heritage after shooting his career best on the Harbour Town course with a 64 in the final round. He said the course is a good fit for his game.
“It’s a position golf course. I’m pretty comfortable driving it around here, and it’s pretty demanding on the second shots,” said Harman, who finished in a tie for 36th at the Masters last week. “But I enjoy trying to fit irons into those smaller spaces. I’ve always enjoyed playing the golf course.
“I missed a few opportunities on the back nine, so we’ll try to tighten that up a little bit. Missed a couple uncharacteristic putts … Â I missed two putts inside of eight feet for birdie and then missed a short one on 18 for par, so yeah, could have been three or four better,” he said. “But overall a good day. Got off to a good start. Really drove the ball well, so I was happy about that.”
Harman teed off at 1:10 p.m. in the opening round and is set to start his round with playing partner Byeong Hun An of South Korea on Friday at 9:55 a.m.
“I just want to get a good night’s sleep tonight and get back after it in the morning. I think it’s going to be a little windier tomorrow, so it’ll be a little different golf course so a different challenge,” said Harman, who is making his 16th appearance in the RBC Heritage. “Just got to keep getting looks and make a couple more tomorrow.”
Harman said he wasn’t surprised that Thomas had a round that tied the course record on what he called a “benign day” as far as the wind and course conditions went.
Thomas was firing at flags as he recorded 11 birdies in his round. He had a shot to shoot the course record of 60, but just missed a 6-foot putt on 18. His 61 tied the course record shared by Troy Merritt (in the second round of the 2015 tournament) and David Frost (1994’s second round).
Thomas is two shots clear of defending champion and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Russell Henley, who are tied for second. Wyndham Clark shot 65 and is in solo fourth place.
“I just played really solid. I feel like I didn’t do anything crazy. I just drove the ball well, which is very, very important out here, and I felt like it was just one of those days I put the ball in a spot that I had a lot of good numbers,” Thomas said. “I had a lot of kind of full wedges to where — although you have to be a little conservative at times out here, I felt like they were kind of pins and angles and everything that I could be a little aggressive and just kind of got rolling with it.”
Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter:Â @DennisKnightSMN
