SILVIS — Brian Harman has accomplished a lot on the golf course.
He has won twice on the PGA Tour — including the 2014 John Deere Classic.
He has made a nice living, cashing over $20 million in paychecks, including pushing the $3 million plateau in what has turned into a very good 2020-21 season.
However, the 34-year-old is still finding motivation on the golf course and has plenty left to accomplish, which is what keeps him plugging away.
That search for an elusive major title will take him to Sandwich, England, next week even though there are some reservations surrounding the trip to the Open Championship.
People are also reading…
Because of restrictions placed on travel (made easier with the Deere/tournament charter flight) and tourism (a much tighter lockdown for golfers), Harman admitted he contemplated not going.
Also catching the players' attention is that 32,000 fans will be allowed on the Royal St. George's layout daily (with testing protocols in place).
“Yeah, I did. I certainly considered it,” he said weighing all of the factors in deciding to make the trip. “More on the fact that I wouldn't want to be away from my family in the event that I was contact traced and was stuck over there for a week or two. … I try not to spend any more than two weeks away from my family. My kids are small, and that's the most important thing to me.
“The only other thing I would say is that the PGA Tour has done — we've been having golf tournaments for a year and change now, year and a half, and we've gone off for the most part without a hitch. I just think we could have maybe used that as a template.”
Ultimately, it came down to one thing.
“What made up my mind to go is that I'm 34 years old, so the way I see it I've probably only got maybe 10 more realistic chances to try to win the British Open,” he said. “You know, my time is limited. It's hard to think about, but I'm probably around halfway through my career, and yeah, I'm not going to — very rarely does someone compete when they're 50 over there. It's hard to do.
“I'm playing well. I really want to win that tournament, and that's why I'm going.”
Harman said he was “excited to go play the British Open” and was just as glad to be back in the Quad-Cities where he won his first PGA Tour title.
“They take care of their champions here, and it's a supportive group of fans that come out here,” he said. “It's awesome to play in front of them.”
He comes into this week's $6.2 million JDC at TPC Deere Run as one of the favorites thanks to his terrific season in which he has made the cut in 20 of 22 starts, logged five Top 10 finishes and 11 Top 25s.
At No. 35 on the FedExCup points list, he is the fourth-highest ranked player in the JDC field.
That, though, hasn't added pressure or changed his approach, he said.
“Over the years I've had some stretches to where I'll kind of work my way up to where I feel like I'm supposed to be, and then it's almost like — I don't know, I don't want to say take it for granted, but I sort of slack off a little bit,” said Harman, whose last victory came at the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship. “I've tried to just kind of keep my nose to the grindstone and just keep after it.
"I know I'm going to make some birdies out here, and I'll just keep my head down and see what I can do.”
Which is take every tournament as they come and not worry about the end results. While in the thick of the FedExCup chase, he admitted that's not a priority.
“You know, I've spent so much time kind of on the bubble trying to get to Atlanta that I'm just not that worried about it,” he said matter of factly about the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. “I'm proud of the way that I've been consistent this year. I feel like my preparation and I've kept myself in better shape, and I'm proud of all those things.
“But I really want to win tournaments. That's what I feel like is the most important. And I haven't done that. In that sense, it's a disappointing year because I've had a chance to win a couple times and just haven't finished it off.”
Maybe a return to familiar surroundings and good vibes will ultimately lead to that changing his season for the better.
