‘I was hot, man’: Brian Harman addresses testy, viral interview

Two weeks ago, a Brian Harman interview spread rapidly across social media — although not for the reasons Harman would have liked.

The 2023 Open champion was four under through 16 holes in the first round of the RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island, but he made bogey on 17 and double bogey on 18 to sign for a one-under 70. Since it was a Signature Event with a purse of $20 million, those were two expensive holes Harman stumbled on.

When he was asked to speak to the media post-round, Harman was still hot. What followed was a terse 45-second interview that lasted just four questions. Here was his final one:

Can you walk us through the last hole there?

“No,” he said. “Good? Thanks.”

It’s a side of pro golf you don’t see often, and while it’s fair to question if Harman should have been brought in after this finish anyway, or at least been given more time to cool down, he was asked about that interaction on Tuesday, when, as the defending Open champion, he held a virtual press conference conducted by the R&A.

“Yeah, I don’t care to be that way,” Harman said. “I don’t like coming off as curt or disrespectful. Everyone has got a job to do. I hate that it came off that way. As far as the way I was feeling, it’s just as raw as it gets. I read some of the stuff — I don’t want to come off as ungrateful for what I get to do. I love what I do. It’s the only thing that I could do every day. I’ve always wanted to be a golfer, so I’m grateful for the opportunity.”

Harman added that it was a result of him caring about his performance.

“When I do something that’s not up to par as far as execution on the golf course, I’m upset about it,” he said. “I take a lot of pride in what I do, and I was hot, man. I was hot coming off. I had a really good day and ruined it with the last couple holes, and probably should have just not done the interview in hindsight.”

Harman did have a good rest of the week at Harbour Town, though. He closed with rounds of 69, 70 and 64, with the latter helping him vault into a tie for 12th, good for $393,000.