How Savannah's Brian Harman is focused on his game, and growing family, headed into 5th Masters

Savannah native Brian Harman is back at Augusta National Golf Club this week for his fifth appearance in the Masters Tournament, and the University of Georgia alum and his wife Kelly have added a new member of the family -- as 8-month-old Jack has joined daughter Cooper, 7, and son Walter, 4.

Harman said the family dynamic is part of the foundation of his game.

"We had two young children before Jack, so I know what it's like having small kids," said Harman, now ranked No. 29 in the world. "I have an incredible wife, and she makes it to where I can go out and focus on my golf. That's the way our family is. They travel when they can, and I have them out as much as I can, but sometimes daddy has to go to work, and that's just the way it is."

The growing family seemed to sharpen Harman's already renowned focus on the golf course and he went to work around the time Jack was born. He had four top-10 finishes last summer into the fall – including a tie for sixth at the British Open – and closed out 2022 at No. 24 in the world ranking.

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"There are always some checkpoints with my game -- can I hit a fade, can I hit a draw? If I can feel a certain thing, it makes me feel real confident," said Harman, 36, who won the U.S. Junior in 2003 when he was a student at Savannah Christian. "For a couple months there, I didn't feel like I had it and I was just trying to grind it out. But I feel like my game is really starting to shape up."

The Harman family made its way around the Par 3 Contest on Wednesday, joined by his fellow former Bulldogs Harris English and Keith Mitchell. Cooper and Walter had several foot races with Mitchell and Harman carried his own bag, while Kelly carried Jack, who is named after Jack Lumpkin, Harman's longtime swing coach, who died in 2022.

"Keith and Harris are two of the finest gentlemen you'd ever want to meet," said Harman, who is set to tee off Thursday at 1 p.m. with Joaquin Niemann of Chile and Englishman Tyrrell Hatton. "I was happy they would invite me and my family to share the par 3 with them and we had a really blessed day. They are good people."

Harman is known for his love of hunting, fishing and the outdoors. He lights up when he talks about any of those subjects and he recently bought a 1,000 acre farm in South Georgia. He has posted some pictures of working on it with the hashtag #FarminwithHarman.

"I love getting out there on the tractor, I love everything about it," Harman said. "We're growing pine trees and farming it for the wildlife."

Harman has been taking hunting trips out west in recent years, and he took an impressive bugle elk with a bow and arrow on a recent trip that included his close friend and fellow Bulldog Kevin Kisner.

"We've been out there on some really successful trips, it's beautiful country," Harman said.

In his four previous Masters appearances, Harman's best finish was a tie for 12th in 2021. He missed the cut last year, and is looking forward to bouncing back from that with a strong performance.

He said the bad weather in the forecast is just something he'll have to deal with.

"I have played really well in some bad conditions in the past, and not being the longest hitter I was hoping it would be warm this week because it makes the course play slightly shorter," Harman said. "I'm just going to have to rely on some grit and some mental fortitude to get through the bad weather."

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: Brian Harman has game, family in focus entering 2023 Masters