Brian Harman reveals unusual preparation ahead of latest Masters bid

Brian Harman is going to have to find a different mindset at the Masters if he is to replicate his Open success in July. 

The reigning Champion Golfer was on the wrong end of the fans’ frustration as he expertly plotted his way round Royal Liverpool in miserable conditions to lift the Claret Jug, before being subjected to the lion’s den in Rome as part of the losing US Ryder Cup team.

“The hardest parts for me were the walks in between a green and a tee box,” Harman told reporters ahead of his sixth tilt at the Green Jacket. “That’s when everyone’s right there on top of you, and that’s when all the noise is happening – especially after a bogey. That was when it was really, really tough.

“At least at the Ryder Cup it was directed at 11 other guys and not just me.

“I love the passion of the fans. People that are that passionate about something, I would never fault them for any of that. I think it’s fantastic. It’s good for our game. Being able to experience that and figuring out kind of how you handle that, you don’t get to do that that many times.”

“It just unlocks something – like proving people wrong, or just having your back against the wall. I think that’s an old cliche, but I’ve certainly been in some spots in my career where it wasn’t looking good and then pulled a rabbit out of the hat. That’s just human nature.

“Everyone’s got different triggers that what sets them off and what makes them go. Stephen Ames said something about Tiger Woods at the Match Play one year, and [Woods] beats him 10&8, so you never know what’s going to set someone off and put them into that zone that they’re really comfortable.”

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But now the Georgia native, who grew up just two hours down the road from Augusta National before attending the University of Georgia as a member of the Bulldogs golf team, says he is trying to work out how to turn an adoring crowd into a winning formula.

His record here makes grim reading, with a tie for 12th in 2021 and a tied-44th in 2018 the only times he has made the weekend. And he thinks he’s figured it out.

“It seems like I do better when everyone’s rooting against me than rooting for me – so that’s a new challenge,” he joked.

“Around Augusta there’s a lot of Dawgs out here, and you hear it all week, and it’s fantastic. So I’ll have to try to channel it. Maybe I’ll just pretend that they’re yelling mean things instead of nice things.”

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But it is Harman’s preparation for the Masters that will raise the most eyebrows. The 37-year-old made headlines around the world for his love of hunting in the wake of his Open win, but Harman embraces his hobby.

“It’s turkey season!” he replied when asked if he had been tuning up for Augusta by blowing off steam – so to speak – with his arsenal.

“We’re full-on turkey season right now. The springtime is special for me. Gobbling turkeys – it doesn’t get any better than that.

“It’s a nice mental distraction, when things aren’t going well, you take yourself somewhere else and calm yourself down, for sure.”

And Brian is making sure it runs in the family.

“My daughter, she’s seven, we went youth weekend,” he added. “She killed her first bird two Sundays ago. It was one of the most memorable moments of my whole life. I hope for her, too. I was really proud of her. She did fantastic.”

Harman Sr will be hoping to sink a few birdies of his own if he is to get his hands on golf’s most famous item of clothing.

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Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor