MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 8, 2024

Brian Harman

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everybody. It's a real pleasure to welcome Brian Harman, the 2023 Open champion, back to Augusta National for a sixth Masters appearance.

Brian, thank you for joining us here today. Really appreciate it, and congratulations again on your Open championship.

I wonder if you would please open up this interview with a reflection on your breakthrough at Royal Liverpool and then maybe comment on your preparation for the Masters this year.

BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, obviously a fantastic week. Something I'll remember forever. My game was really trending that time of year last year. Got to play the week before at the Scottish Open, had some really good feelings and getting used to the weather and just all timed up at the right time, which is really fortunate.

As far as this week, decided to play last week to try and -- when I take a break, I tend to come back a little rusty, and I feel like that's been kind of a problem for me here at Augusta. So wanted to play last week, knock the rust off, and be as ready as I can to try and contend this week.

THE MODERATOR: That's great. Good. Thank you. Well, with that, we'll open it up to the media for any questions that you might have.

Q. You've answered this partially in your opening remarks there about anything different here. How do you feel about coming here? How many times have you played it, I have no idea, but your ability to be able to contend here this week?

BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, I had a pretty good chance several years ago. I think I was either a shot back or two shots back going to the weekend. And a couple more breaks on the weekend, maybe could have given Hideki a run, but just wasn't meant to be.

But I feel like I'm slightly more mature, ready. I'll be more ready this week than I have been years past. Like I said, normally I take the week off before and I would come up here and play a little bit.

But for me there's nothing that replaces competitive golf as far as warming up for a big golf tournament. So this year I'm trying to play the week before. Last week I had a couple of the same feelings that I usually would have had this week: I was rusty, made a couple, you know, brain-dead bogeys that I felt like.

So hopefully got all that out of my system and can be a little sharper and ready to go this week.

Q. Did you practice this morning? Practicing this afternoon at all?

BRIAN HARMAN: I got all my practice focused around this interview right now so. Came out, I hit balls for 30 minutes. I'll go play the back nine this afternoon.

Q. So when you're on the back nine with the eclipse coming --

BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, this is timed up pretty good; get to watch the end of the world at Augusta National, right? (Laughing).

No, last time we were in a playoff event seven years ago, and same thing happened. We were on the golf course then too. So, yeah, both eclipses I guess my last seven years will be on the golf course getting ready for a golf tournament.

Q. Obviously left-handers have a great record here. Have you always come here feeling that it's a course that could suit you?

BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, lefties have done pretty well around here. I think the conditions kind have to go in my favor. It's a long golf course. I make no bones about that. I don't make any excuses about how far I hit the ball or make any gripes about how long courses are. I just show up and try to be ready to play.

The U.S. Open I had a chance to win was the longest one in U.S. Open history. So the length doesn't scare me. I've just got to prepare myself. It's evolved into a really hard golf course. It's just one of those things where you want to fast-forward and be on the back nine Sunday making lots of birdies.

But there's a lot that happens in between teeing off Thursday and that back nine. And it's a very challenging course, and there's a lot of places that are really frustrating. And the guy that handles that the best usually is pretty up there.

Q. The conditions that you won at Royal Liverpool in the end were pretty miserable. It could be a tough start on Thursday. Is that something you'll relish?

BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, I prefer it to be -- here I prefer it to be hot and windy. I feel like that gives me the best opportunity. When it's cold and wet, that's kind of a tough row to hoe for me. But we're just going to -- whatever the conditions are, obviously I had never really played that great in the rain and wind until I got a little confidence last July. So I feel like I'm prepared for just about anything.

Q. It's been about 10 months since you won the Open Championship. Did you think that a kid from Savannah would ever be able to win the Open Championship? And how has your life changed, and have you been back since you won the Open Championship, and what's been the response of the community?

BRIAN HARMAN: I haven't had much chance to get back to Savannah. I've got plans to. I'm ready to come back and see everybody.

It's been very busy. I'm having a very busy last eight, nine months. It's been incredible. It's been a nice -- it's been really nice.

Did I ever think a kid have Savannah? I mean, I always felt like I could do something great. I've always loved competing and always saw myself doing cool stuff. So it was nice to knock that one off. And I know Savannah was proud, and I'm proud to be from Savannah. So I'm happy to get back and see everybody.

Q. Being a Georgian, how much contact did you have with this place before you played in your first Masters?

BRIAN HARMAN: A good friend of mine that introduced me to duck hunting brought me here the first time when I was 14 years old, I believe. And we played 18 holes. So I've been very familiar with this place for a very long time. It's a special place.

Q. Last year at Liverpool, I mean, it was a pretty hostile environment. I don't think that was any secret. For those of us who were out there watching, it was kind of stunning. Is there any one moment from that final round that you can relate to us that kind of draws a picture that have?

BRIAN HARMAN: Well, there was several. The hardest parts for me were the walks in between like a green and a tee box. That's when everyone's right there on top of you, and that's when all the noise is happening. Especially like after a bogey or something, that's when it's really, really tough.

So every time that -- like, for example, I bogeyed 13, and walking to the 14th, my lead's down to four, you got tough holes coming up. So I'm walking to the 14th tee, and I'm hearing it, hearing it, hearing it. And then I got on 14 and just like flush rocket right down the middle of the fairway.

You get enough of those kind of "take that" moments, where it's like it helps you build confidence. Because if you can go through that gauntlet and then execute a golf shot, it's like well all I have to do is go through my routine and execute this. You know, nothing else matters. So that was almost like a calming sensation there.

Q. I wonder, given that, being able to be successful in that environment, what did that win, being successful that environment, do you think do for you as a golfer?

BRIAN HARMAN: I don't like -- I don't like thinking of it as like an arrival because I've always felt that way. I don't really like thinking of it that it's like a justification of all the hard work that I've done. It's just like this long process of a career, and that's obviously a highlight.

But it happened. I'm really proud of it. But like I want to feel those -- like, I live to feel those moments. Like, that's like the drug for me. I want to get in contention in big golf tournaments. So my goal is to try and get to those uncomfortable places as many times as I can.

Q. You mentioned when you take some time off you come back a little rusty and make brain-dead bogeys. What does that mean, and how do you actually go about fixing that and tuning up your game before a major week?

BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, when you got three kids at home, it's hard to prepare as well as you would want to. For me the preparation came last week at Valero. It's a hard golf course, really good preparation for this week. It's just hard for me to get into that same sort of competitive space. I need the pressure to know so I can test my game against that pressure. That's how I figure out what I need to work on going into a bigger golf tournament.

It's really hard to do that at home.

Q. Going back, I wonder if you felt more equipped at this Masters than you did after you won Wells Fargo and that you did after you had won John Deere?

BRIAN HARMAN: Well, I would certainly hope so. As these things happen to you and as you experience these different things, you should be more prepared. You should be more confident at the end of a round than you were when you started it.

So just that slow building into being comfortable, being able -- there's no way I can anticipate what sort of situations will happen, but after The Open I feel as though I'm more prepared to handle whatever comes my way because I don't foresee a situation, you know, The Open and then the Ryder Cup, just these pressure-packed situations, and I've seen myself perform pretty well under that pressure.

So I may not execute under certain situations, I might just miss a golf shot, but I would like to think that the pressure wouldn't get to me quite as bad as it may have at some point.

Q. Secondly, and I promise I'm not trying to create a "Butcher of Georgia" headline here, but on your hunting, are you, like, related only to the fall, or is this a year-round thing? Have you done it recently? Is it a good Masters tune-up? What's your hunting schedule?

BRIAN HARMAN: My hunting schedule? It's turkey season right now, bud.

Q. I should have known that. Sorry.

BRIAN HARMAN: We're full-on turkey season right now. Yeah, we got -- yeah, the springtime is special for me. Gobbling turkeys, doesn't get any better than that. So, yeah, it's a nice mental distraction, when things aren't going well, you take yourself somewhere else and calm yourself down, for sure.

Q. Have you been lately?

BRIAN HARMAN: I have. My daughter, she's seven, we went youth weekend. She killed her first bird two Sundays ago. It was one of the most memorable moments of my whole life. I hope for her, too (laughing). I was really proud of her. She did fantastic.

Q. I'm sure you heard a lot of things out on a golf course, and I'm sure this week you're going to hear a lot of, "Go Dawgs." How often do you think you're going to hear that, I guess? And does that support kind of -- does it help fuel you when you're out here?

BRIAN HARMAN: It seems like I do better when everyone's rooting against me than rooting for me. So I'll have to -- I've got -- that's a new challenge. Because, yeah, I mean, around Augusta there's a lot of Dawgs out here, and you hear it all week, and it's fantastic. So I'll have to try to channel it. Maybe I'll just pretend that they're yelling mean things instead of nice things.

Q. This is your sixth appearance. Talk to me a little bit about what are some of the things that you learned from your past appearances that you hope can help you have a great year this year.

BRIAN HARMAN: Just knowing that I can compete here, I've competed here. I had a good chance -- I forget what year it was -- 2020, 2021, one of those years. So I know I can play this golf course well. It's just a matter of getting my game in the right form to play. And that takes a little bit of experience.

And you're going to see yourself hit some bad shots around here. It's just part of the pressure of this place, being able to get over those and just knowing it's a long week and there's just certain shots that you're going to have to execute.

And for me it's like a math project. My game has to be here for me to be successful. So I'm really focused on trying to -- that litmus test of getting the game where it needs to be first before I worry about contending.

Q. To take you back to Royal Liverpool, how did the hostility there compare to the Ryder Cup, the environment on the course at the weekend at Royal Liverpool compare to Rome, in your eyes?

BRIAN HARMAN: Well, at least at the Ryder Cup it was directed at 11 other guys and not just me. They're similar. I love the passion of the fans. You can't, people that are that passionate about something, I would never fault them for any of that. I think it's fantastic. It's good for our game. It's not often that we get a chance to play a true away game. Being able to experience that and figuring out kind of how you handle that, you don't get to do that that many times.

Q. Why do you do well when things are going wrong or when things seem to be against you?

BRIAN HARMAN: Why?

Q. Yeah, you said that just now. You didn't say it in quite so many words.

BRIAN HARMAN: I don't know, I think it just unlocks something like proving people wrong, or just being your back against the wall. I think that's an old cliche, but I've certainly been in some spots in my career where it wasn't looking good and then kind of pull a rabbit out of the hat, and stuff like that. I think that's just kind of human nature and everyone's got different triggers that what sets 'em off and what makes 'em go -- Stephen Ames said something about beating Tiger Woods at the Match Play one year, and he beats him 10 & 8, so you never know what's going to set someone off and put them into that zone that they're really comfortable.

Q. With this being an anniversary year for the Green Jacket, I'm curious, when you're on property and you see the Green Jackets, does that fuel your game at all?

BRIAN HARMAN: Yeah, I mean, this is a special place. I mean, you definitely feel different when you walk onto this property as opposed to any others. Yeah, just the aura and just the history and the beauty of this place is, it makes you want to come back every year, and certainly makes you want to play well.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Brian, and all the best to you this week.

BRIAN HARMAN: Thank you.