Brian Harman produced a dominant performance at Royal Liverpool to claim the 151st Open Championship, but perhaps as impressive as his six-shot win was the fact he didn’t rely on big hitting to achieve it.
Instead, the American utilised technical excellence from tee to green combined with a putting masterclass to claim his maiden Major title, leaving the likes of Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy, who are better known for their impressive driving distances, trailing in his wake.
There has long been concern over the effect of the game’s big hitters on the game and in March, the game’s governing bodies confirmed a golf ball rollback plan aimed at reducing hitting distances.
However, following his win, Harman admitted he was sceptical as to whether the proposed Modal Local Rule, which would reduce the distance golf balls travel in elite golf, will benefit shorter hitters.
He said: “It depends on who you talk to. Some people say it'll help. The guys that hit it shorter - I don't know how it helps a guy that hits it shorter. There hasn't been any -- there really hasn't been any change or golf course design that's helped a shorter hitter over the last 20 years, so I don't know how the next thing would help a shorter hitter. The game is going longer. That seems to be the way it's going.”
The proposal has received a backlash from players and manufacturers alike since it was announced. DeChambeau described it as “atrocious” and thinks it’ll work against the bigger hitters. He said: “It’s a great handicap for us guys that have worked really hard to learn how to hit it farther.”
Elsewhere, Jon Rahm, who has one of the longest driving distances in the game, has questioned why the focus is on changing the ball when course design could be the answer.
Speaking before March’s WGC-Match Play, he said: “I haven't talked to anybody in the USGA to understand why they're so focused on testing all our equipment, whether it's the driver, the ball, whatever it is. They're hyper-focused on making professional golf a little bit more difficult than it already is. I don't know why. There's plenty of things you can do to make it more difficult for us, golf course design, course setup, all these great things.“
Equipment manufacturers have also voiced their concerns over the proposals, with TaylorMade questioning the plans and revealing it is inviting feedback it can present to the governing bodies and Titleist claiming the plans were a “solution in search of a problem.”
Harman is 98th on the list of average driving distances of PGA Tour players on 291.6 yards following The Open. That’s almost 20 yards less than leader McIlroy averages.
While Harman's win demonstrated that there is still scope for players relying on precision to get the job done in big tournaments, he doesn’t appear confident that the proposed changes will do anything other than make it that bit harder in the future.
