Harman still leads overwhelmingly at The Open 2023

At the end of round 3, American golfer Brian Harman scored -12 and had a five-stroke lead, as he did at round 2 of the oldest golf major, this year at the par71 Royal Liverpool course.

The second round result recorded Harman -10 while his closest opponent - Tommy Fleetwood -5. With that difference, Harman reached the record of leading the first half of The Open which has existed for the past 89 years.

In the next match, Harman, after a slump at the beginning, regained his form to raise his score to -12 and continue to dominate the tournament while Tommy Fleetwood remained -5 due to even par. At this time, Harman was followed by his compatriot Cameron Young, who had never won on the PGA Tour, at -7, and the third-ranked golfer in the world , Jon Rahm, at -6.

Harman (white hat) and Fleetwood on the 14th teeing ground of round three of The Open at Royal Liverpool par-71 course, England on July 22. Photo: AP

The penultimate leg began yesterday afternoon, July 22, Hanoi time, with hole 1 being the joint starting position, with Harman and Fleetwood going last. When Harman started, Rahm finished with 63 strokes, recording a total of eight birdies and no bogeys. Thanks to that, Rahm went from +2 at the start of the match to -6 and jumped 38 places on the leaderboard. Young, who was three hours behind Rahm, shot 66 strokes to reach -7, up five places from his previous position.

Harman made two bogeys on the first four holes, bringing his score down to -8. However, in the rest of the round, he took four birdies and the rest were pars. Speaking to the press after the round, Harman said the two most important shots happened on holes 5 and 7 because they helped him regain his momentum. At the par-5 hole 5, he entered the green with a 3-wood, then easily finished after two putts. At the par-4 hole 7, he putted the ball into the hole with a 1.5-meter putt. This finish helped Harman hold -9. In the next six holes, Harman gradually increased the gap, touching a five-stroke lead after a birdie on hole 13 and closing the score at -12 until the end of the round.

In 2014, Harman, having won the John Deere Classic on the PGA Tour, made his debut at The Open, also at Royal Liverpool, finishing T26 and winning the championship to Rory McIlroy. Since then, he has played seven more times, including four cuts, finishing T19 in 2021 and T6 last year.

Coming into this year's Open, Harman was full of hope for the claret jug cup after the third round, when he had an overwhelming lead. However, the prestigious group is unpredictable. In the past four decades, the four majors have recorded two cases of losing the championship despite leading "half a dozen" or more in the final round like Harman, including Jean Van de Velde at The Open 1999 and Greg Norman at the Masters 1996.

Harman himself had a chance to win the US Open major once, in 2017 with a one-stroke lead. However, with a 72-stroke finish, he finished T2 (-12) while the cup went to Brooks Koepka with a 67 stroke and a winning mark of -16.

Harman, 36 years old, has been playing professional golf since 2009. He is a veteran on the PGA Tour, having won 339 tournaments in over 11 years with two cups and a total prize money of approximately 29 million USD.

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