Savannah's Brian Harman put together excellent first round at RBC Heritage
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C — Savannah's Brian Harman has a long history at Harbour Town Golf Links, where he made his PGA Tour debut back in 2004 — when the 17-year old became the first teenager to compete in the RBC Heritage on a sponsor's exemption.
He was a junior at Savannah Christian Prep — coming off a win in the U.S. Junior Amateur the summer before.
On Thursday, Harman put together a stellar round in his 14th appearance at Harbour Town — with a bogey-free 6-under par 65 that gave him the lead in the clubhouse for a short period of time, before Norway's Viktor Hovland posted a 64.
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Harman birdied the first — making an 11-footer that ignited a hot day on the greens. He converted a birdie putt from eight feet or longer at five more holes — holing his longest putt of the day from 21 feet at the par-4 sixth. He hit 16 greens in regulation.
Looking back at his debut 19 years ago, Harman had some funny memories.
"I remember hitting it left on 3, and then I tried to chip it out, hit a tree, and it came back and hit me right in the chest. It's like welcome to the PGA TOUR," said Harman, who is No. 34 in the World Golf Ranking. "It was cool. I was blown away by how nice everyone was. Davis Love was obviously a hero of mine, and he was super nice. Played a practice round with Steve Elkington. He was great. So I've got a lot of fond memories of that week."
He's looking to make some more this week, while trying to stay focused on his game with a large contingent of family and friends on hand to watch the former University of Georgia star.
"I love coming here. I mean, golf is my job, so I try to make it as business-like as possible because, if I get so wound up in who's coming and who's getting tickets and who's coming out to watch, like I just end up focusing on the wrong things," said Harman, who lives on St. Simons Islands with his wife Kelly and their three young children. "So my job is to hit fairways, greens, and try to make putts. Whether that's here or Memphis, Tennessee, or New York City, it's all the same."
Harman was disappointed about missing the cut last week in his fifth appearance at the Masters, but he stepped away from the game to get in the right frame of mind to play Harbour Town this week.
"My game's been good. I mean, I was really excited to play Augusta last week. I had struggled for a while, and I played good at the Match Play, ran into Patrick Cantlay. He just beat me. Played good against him, though. Missed a couple putts," he said. "Then I prepared for Augusta as good as I'd ever prepared for it. I was really excited and just laid an egg. So, yeah, you just have to be patient. You just never know when it's going to happen."
After the Masters, Harman decided to take a break and spend some time at his recently acquired 100-acre farm in south Georgia, rather than grinding it out on the practice range.
"I went and I killed a pig Friday night at my farm, and I killed a turkey Saturday morning. I didn't hit any balls until I got here Tuesday," Harman said.
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 near top of leaderboard at RBC Heritage
