Savannah's Brian Harman closes strong to earn a top-10 finish at the RBC Heritage

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C — Savannah's Brian Harman closed out his tournament on a strong note Sunday as posted a bogey-free 67 to finish at 13-under par in the 55th RBC Heritage.

It was Harman's 14th appearance at Harbour Town Golf Links, and the 36-year old tied his best tournament score from 2020 and matched his top finish on the leaderboard from 2014 with a tie for seventh.

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"I would have had a chance to win this week. Just missed a few putts the last couple days," said Harman, who entered the week at No. 34 in the World Golf Ranking. "I played great the last two days. Look forward to a couple weeks off and then I'll be back in Charlotte."

Harman finished four strokes behind winner Matthew Fitzpatrick, who beat Jordan Spieth on the third playoff hole after nearly holing an approach shot for eagle on No. 18. Harman took home a check for $607,500.

His iron game was dialed in Sunday as Harman hit 16 of 18 greens. He had worry-free tap ins on nearly all his pars, with his longest putt to save par a seven footer on No. 12.

He ran into a bit of trouble on the par-4 16th, a dogleg left where his drive of 314 yards landed in the middle of the fairway, but with a tree blocking a clean approach. He punched a shot under the tree into the bunker fronting the right side of the green, and made a precision sand shot from 20 yards to a foot for a kick-in par.

"I hit a great drive. We were kind of in between driver and 3-wood and I knew a good drive has a chance to get right behind that tree, and I hit it just like I wanted to and five yards short of that and I probably get a good birdie look," said Harman, who lives on Sea Island with his wife Kelly and their three young children. "That's the rub of this place, and sometimes you've got to take those little spots on to try to shoot a low number."

That kept his card clean, and he carried the momentum to the 17th, one of Harbour Town's signature par 3s, where he drained his longest putt of the day — an 18 footer — for his fourth birdie.

Harbour Town feels like home to Harman, a Savannah Christian alumnus who won the U.S. Junior in the summer of 2004. The following April, he was invited to play the RBC Heritage on a sponsor's exemption and made his PGA Tour debut at the age of 17 as junior in high school. He went on to become a three-time All-American at the University of Georgia.

"I always love coming here. It's such a cool place. It's such a great golf course," Harman said. "I've been coming here a long time, but it never gets old. It's a lot of fun."

On Thursday, he opened with a 65, tying his career best on the Pete Dye designed course, and was in a tie for third. He drew a gaggle of reporters for an interview after the round and was asked if he had been working on his game since a disappointing missed cut at the Masters the week prior.

Instead of sharpening his game on the range, Harman said he was sharpening his shooting skills as he killed a pig that Friday night on his 100-acre hunting farm in South Georgia, before taking a turkey the next day.

He plans to take a couple weeks off before getting back out to play at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, where he had the second of two career PGA victories in 2017, but has immediate plans to pursue a pastime he loves.

"I'm taking two weeks off, so I'll have to kind of disconnect from it for a minute, but I'm excited about where my game is at. Almost wish I was playing a little quicker, but I'll try to get home and try to figure out why I'm missing a few short putts and keep trying to strike it well," Harman said. "And I think we'll be after the turkeys tomorrow."

Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah's Brian Harman closes strong at RBC Heritage