Six-time major winner Lee Trevino has given motivational talks to a range of golfers, from Jack Nicklaus to former President George W. Bush to Tiger Woods’s son, Charlie.
Also on that list: Brian Harman, who holds a commanding lead on the final day of the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.
The two intersected briefly a year ago at the Open Championship at St. Andrews after Trevino spotted Harman on the range.
“I just told him, ‘You must work really hard as a little man in a big man’s game,” Trevino said Saturday evening from his Dallas home. “It’s the old David-vs.-Goliath thing. You know how David beats Goliath on the golf course? With chipping and putting. Those are your rocks and stones.”
Trevino, like Harman, knows something about staring up at his competition. He and Harman are the same height: 5-foot-7.
“I was just trying to encourage him, give him a pep talk, because I was a little man out there too,” Trevino said.
Harman shot 73-68-68-66 at St. Andrews to finish tied for sixth.
“Lee has always been incredibly nice to me,” Harman said after his round on Friday. “I wouldn’t expect him to know me from — couldn’t pick me out of a lineup of two, I would imagine, but he’s always made it a point to say hello so I’ve always appreciated him and always made it a point whenever I’m around him to talk to him.”
Harman’s size isn’t the only thing that sets him apart on Tour — he’s also left-handed, which, Trevino said, has been an advantage to Harman at Royal Liverpool.
“I think most people know that seven left-handers have won the Masters tournament because the courses is set up with the trouble for the right-handers not the left,” Trevino said. “The same is true of Hoylake, as a lot of holes go right to left there and you see a lot of the big bunkers on the left side, which favors the left-handers.”
Trevino won six majors, including two Open Championships, but he never held a five-shot major lead after 54 holes, which he said can carry both positives and negatives.
”The good thing about having a five-shot lead is that Brian can make three mistakes on Sunday — at least three — and still have the lead. If [Jon] Rahm or someone else even makes one [mistake], then Brian can make four or five. Plus, he can be conservative and lay up on some holes, and they have to go for everything.”
And the downside?
“With a big lead, you don’t want to look like you’re choking if you start to lose it,” Trevino said. “If you don’t win, that’s what people will say.”
Like so many other golf fans, Trevino said he will be glued to his TV Sunday morning, and he’ll be pulling for a Harman victory.
