“Kind of cool that two lefties won” - Akshay Bhatia lauds Brian Harman as the two left-handers create history on PGA Tour
Akshay Bhatia praised Brian Harman for winning the 151st Open, adding that it was great to see two lefties win on the same day.
On Sunday evening, Harman ended his six-year drought to become the newest Open Champion at Royal Liverpool. A few hours later, Bhatia claimed his first PGA Tour win after beating Patrick Rodgers in a sudden-death playoff at the Barracuda Championship.
Speaking during the post-event press conference, Bhatia said he was watching the Open Championship.
"Brian Harman, I know him pretty well," he said as per Golfweek. " It’s kind of cool that two lefties won on the same day. That’s pretty cool to have that happen. I was so excited for him, obviously, and for his whole team."
For the first time ever TWO lefties have won on the same day on the PGA Tour🤯
Brian Harman at The Open and Akshay Bhatia at The Barracuda Championship!
What a week for southpaws everywhere‼️
@NUCLRGOLF pic.twitter.com/m0bifSy4pd
Prior to the Open Championship 2023, Harman's last win came six years ago at the Wells Fargo Championship. However, he had an incredible run throughout the week at Royal Liverpool. The golfer carded a 67 in the first round, followed by a 65 on Friday.
After shooting a 69 on Saturday, he fired a 1-under 70 on the final day of the event, averaging 13-under. Tom Kim, Sepp Straka, Jon Rahm, and Jason Day were joint runner-ups at 7-under.
"To come out and put a performance like that together, like start to finish, just had a lot of control. I don't know why this week, but I'm very thankful that it was this week," Harman said after his win.
As for Bhatia, this was his first win in 36 starts on PGA Tour. The win also helped him earn full status on the PGA Tour. Prior to the Old Greenwood event, the 21-year-old golfer had been playing on the special temporary membership since March.
While Harman bagged $3 million for his British Open victory and 600 FedEx Cup points, Bhatia received $684,000 and jumped to No. 90 in the FedEx Cup standings.
How many spots did Brian Harman and Akshay Bhatia jump in the latest OWGR update?
Brian Harman broke into the top 10 of the Original World Golf Rankings after a historic win at the 151st Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Harman jumped 16 spots to World No. 10 in the latest golf rankings update.
Akshay Bhatia also jumped 85 spots to World No. 106 after his win at Old Greenwood. He began the year outside the top 400 and has only been improving since then.
Here are the updated rankings as of July 24:
- Scottie Scheffler
- Rory McIlroy
- Jon Rahm
- Patrick Cantlay
- Viktor Hovland
- Xander Schauffele
- Max Homa
- Cameron Smith
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Brian Harman
- Wyndham Clark
- Jordan Spieth
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Brooks Koepka
- Cameron Young
- Keegan Bradley
- Tom Kim
- Will Zalatoris
- Tony Finau
- Sam Burns
- Jason Day
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Collin Morikawa
- Justin Thomas
- Sepp Straka
- Rickie Fowler
- Sungjae Im
- Kurt Kitayama
- Hideki Matsuyama
- Corey Conners
- Shane Lowry
- Russell Henley
- Justin Rose
- Denny McCarthy
- Sahith Theegala
- Emiliano Grillo
- Si Woo Kim
- Harris English
- Adam Scott
- Ryan Fox
- Tom Hoge
- Chris Kirk
- Joaquin Niemann
- Nick Taylor
- Min Woo Lee
- Adam Schenk
- Billy Horschel
- Adrian Meronk
- Patrick Reed
- Taylor Moore