Justin

Harding

The South African was one of the four LIV Golf defectors to join this week’s field as late entrants. He didn’t let those off-the-course legal matters impact his play. He leaned heavily on the putter today, as he often does. Harding splashed home four putts from outside of 10 feet including a 36'8" birdie bomb at the 15th and a 23'2" birdie splash at the 16th. He gained more than three strokes putting today and is now well-positioned with the winds expected to whip for the afternoon wave. Harding finished ninth last week at the LIV Portland event.

In recent weeks, the DP World Tour put sanctions on LIV Golf defectors with one of those sanctions being the removal from the field at the Genesis Scottish Open. A group of those suspended took that decision to court and will have those limits removed for the time being. Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the DP World Tour, provided a brief statement, “I will simply say we are disappointed by the outcome of today’s hearing, but will abide by the decision. It is important to remember, however, this is only a stay of the sanctions imposed, pending the hearing of the players’ appeal as to whether those sanctions were appropriate.” Given the late decision made here, these three golfers will be added to the field but they won’t replace anyone else already committed. Instead, the field has now expanded to 159 golfers.

The 35-year-old South African opened with a bogey at No. 1 on Sunday at Emirates Golf Club then made nine straight pars before making a triple bogey at the par-3 11th. He had one lone birdie on the day, at No. 13, and carded another bogey at No 15 to finish at 8-under 280 for the tournament, four strokes out of the playoff eventually won by world No. 3 Viktor Hovland. “At the end of the day, I’ve just got to go out and keep doing what I’m doing and make a couple of birdies and shoot 70, 69, something like that,” he said following his third round. “Make them shoot five or six under par.” Harding, a two-time DPWT winner, is in the field this week for the tour’s inaugural Ras al Khaimah Championship at Al Hamra GC in Ras Al Khaimah, UAB.

All was going well for the 35-year-old as Harding looked as if he was on cruise control during the first three days of the SA Open Championship. Carding rounds of 68-67-68, Harding had honed in on a perfect combination of birdie-making abilities as well as bogey-avoiding tactics. Unfortunately, this would come to a quick end as Harding made a triple-bogey on hole No. 2 in his final round before making a bogey on the par-3 3rd-hole. The South African was unable to recover, carding two bogeys and a birdie the rest of the way, eventually shooting 5-over 77 and finishing eight-strokes behind Daniel Van Tonder in a tie for sixth.

A strong 2021 campaign saw the South African capture the Magical Kenya Open in late March before adding a number of quality results. A top 5 effort at the BMW International Open in Germany was followed up with a top 20 at The Open during the summer months. Taking to the Cazoo Open the very next week, the 35-year-old played brilliantly only to fall in a playoff to Spain’s Nacho Elvira. A seven-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, Harding’s home continent has been kind to him in the past, albeit not in this particular tournament. Missing the cut in five instances and failing to collect a top 10 finish, Harding has struggled in the Joburg Open throughout his career. Arriving off a strong season which included 10 top 20 finishes, perhaps this is the year he finally flips the script at Randpark Golf Club.

The 35-year-old Harding started his final round at Celtic Manor, site of the 2010 Ryder Cup, six shots back of 54-hole leader Elvira and proceeded to card a bogey-free, 6-under 65 to reach 16-under 268 to force the playoff. Harding three-putted from 24 feet on the first extra hole to hand Elvira his first career European Tour win. He’s already got one win on the season, however, capturing the Magical Kenya Open in March. Harding finished at 21-under 263 to win by two strokes over Kurt Kitayama for his second career ET title (he also won the 2019 Qatar Masters). On the season, Harding has made 13 cuts in 17 starts with nine top-25 results including a T-19 at the 149th Open Championship. Harding is in the field for this week’s ISPS Handa World Invitational at Galgorm Castle GC and Massereene GC in Northern Ireland. Last year at Galgorm, he finished T-11 at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

The 33-year-old South African shot 70-72 on the weekend at Royal St. George’s for a top-20 finish and solid rebound following a missed cut the week prior at the abrdn Scottish Open. The two-time European Tour winner has made 13-of-17 cuts this season with seven top-20 results including a win at the Magical Kenya Open in March. Harding finished at 21-under 263 to win by two strokes over Kurt Kitayama for his second career ET title (he also won the 2019 Qatar Masters). This week marks Hardin’s second appearance at the Cazoo Open, where he finished T-44 in 2020. He also finished T-47 at the 2020 Celtic Classic, also held at Celtic Manor least season.

The South African is a two-time winner on the European Tour in 109 events, most recently this season’s Magical Kenya Open in March 12 starts ago, an event he finished co-runner-up at last season. His career-TOUR-best in 19 events is T10 at the 2019 Byron Nelson in his tourney debut and on a Commissioner’s Exemption, while his best in eight previous majors, and lone top 25, is T12 at the 2019 Masters in his event debut, where he was T7 after 54 holes (69-69-70-72). Today, the Lamar Univ. product traded three birdies with three bogeys on 10 (of 14) fairways and 11 greens in regulation. He’ll play out of the fifth-to-last twosome on Sunday with Aussie Cameron Smith (68).

Harding split just 6-of-14 fairways today but still managed 13 greens in regulation which was roughly two more than the field average today. “Statistically I think I may have missed a few fairways, but I was very rarely more than a yard off a couple of them.” The highlight of his round was a lengthy eagle putt that rolled home from off the green at the par-5 14th hole. The South African is now in a somewhat familiar spot with two days to play. Harding was T5 thru 36 holes at the 2019 Open Championship (T41) and was T6 thru 36 holes at the 2019 Masters (T12). The latter remains his top finish in a major championship.

The South African split 9-of-14 fairways and landed 13 greens in regulation today. By day’s end that translated to 12 pars and five birdies. The other hole? That was his big hiccup today, “I hit one bad tee shot today and that was on 7, and it took me two to chip out and a bit of a mess from there on in.” That errant tee shot resulted in a double bogey at the par-5 seventh but four of his five birdies came after the double, so he didn’t let it ruin his day. The Lamar University product missed the cut in his 2013 Open debut but landed T41 in 2019 and is off to the races again this week. Harding currently sits in a share of seventh with afternoon play still in progress.