Brian Harman wants some respect on Lucas Glover’s name.
Two weeks ago, Glover, 43, was outside the top 100 in the FedExCup standings and Official World Golf Ranking. But after becoming the third-oldest player in PGA Tour history to win consecutive events, which he did the last two weeks at the Wyndham Championship and FedEx St. Jude Championship, Glover has soared to fourth in the FedExCup and No. 30 in the world.
“If you would have told me this three months ago, I’d tell you you’re crazy,” Glover said afterward.
Considering he had only one victory since 2011, Glover wasn’t the only one surprised by his recent heater, which was sparked by switching to a broomstick putter in June after a decade of battling the putting yips.
However, Harman, 36, who won The Open Championship last month for his maiden major triumph, passionately believes this is the player Glover has always been.
Full-field scores from BMW Championship
“I read an article the other day that made me very angry,” Harman said after Day 1 of the BMW Championship in which he is the co-leader. “It called Lucas Glover a journeyman. It said journeyman Lucas Glover, and I thought, what a ridiculous thing to say. This guy has made I don’t know how many Tour Championships, won the (2009) U.S. Open. He’s won six or seven times now. Lucas Glover is a world beater.”
Asked who the reporter was, Harman responded: “Doesn’t matter because that opinion is just — that just baffled me.”
Glover will play in his fifth Tour Championship next week and has six Tour wins. Inflating his resume in just two weeks, though, made Harman very emotional — and also reminded him of the famed movie “The Shawshank Redemption”.
“To go through what (Glover) went through with his putter and to come out the other side, I think about like Andy Dufresne, crawling through the river and coming out clean the other side (from the film),” Harman said. “I’m so proud of him, I’m so happy for him. Gosh, my wife and I were watching him win Wyndham and both of us are in tears watching it, and to follow it back up the next week, it’s awesome.”
Why was Harman brought to tears?
“I know what it means to Lucas. I know what it means to his kids. You saw his daughter is there and she’s just crying her eyes out. It was just a beautiful scene,” he said.
“I think all of us — we all struggle from time to time, and Lucas with the putter, he struggled. It’s like — he was talking about putting left-handed.
“I remember when I first moved down to St. Simons, we’d go out and we’d play golf, and it was long before I had a Tour card and I was like, I don’t know how I’m ever going to beat this guy. He was so good. He’s got such good hands. He was putting it so great. So he goes through that, and like I said, to come out the other side is just unreal.”
Harman, who turned pro in ’09, may have been considered a journeyman before his major win at Royal Liverpool. Now, however, he’s a major champion — like Glover.
Yet, despite earning that accolade, Harman revealed on Thursday that fewer tears were running down his face after The Open than there were watching Glover.