THE JOURNAL
A Major Golf Champion In Waiting? Mr Harris English Is Feeling Quietly Confident
Mr Harris English plays his shot from the sixth tee during the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut, 27 June 2021. Photograph by Mr Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Picking a winner at golf’s Open Championship is a perennially tricky affair. The oldest of the sport’s four majors is also the most unpredictable due to the fact it is the only one to be played on seaside links courses. These historic, uniquely open and undulating courses, shaped by nature and buffeted by the elements, place a premium on stoicism in the face of adversity and an ability to play a wide variety of shots, some of which spend more time on the ground than they do in the air. As well as being traditionally hard, fast and bouncy, links courses can also be subjected to weather from all four seasons in the space of a few hours.
This year’s championship begins on Thursday at Royal St George’s, which has a history of producing surprise winners. Mr Darren Clarke was given odds of 125-1 by British bookmakers before he secured an emotional victory in 2011 at the age of 42. Mr Ben Curtis was an even bigger outsider, ranked 396th in the world when he lifted the famous Claret Jug trophy in 2003. Golf fans of a certain vintage will also point to Mr Sandy Lyle in 1985, another long shot when he won his first major at the course located on the Kent coast in southern England.
If you’re looking for an outsider who fits the bill this week, we suggest you examine the credentials of Mr Harris English. The 31-year-old from Georgia is having a stellar year, having won twice on the PGA Tour, climbed to number 12 in the world rankings and made himself a strong contender for Mr Steve Stricker’s US Ryder Cup team to face Europe in September. Added to that, he’s played in six previous Opens, qualifying for the final 36 holes on five occasions, and been a model of consistency in all the majors, including a third-place finish at the recent US Open.
Harris English after the winning putt on the 18th green during the eighth playoff hole during the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut, 27 June 2021. Photograph by Mr Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
Two days after winning the prestigious Travelers Championship at the eighth extra hole of a sudden-death playoff – the second longest in PGA Tour history – English called us from his home. Here, he explains why he is comfortable with his newfound status as a major player (“Bring it on”) and what it is about playing golf by the seaside that seems to bring out the best in him.
“I love links golf,” English says. “I played it for the first time in 2011, [as an amateur] in the Walker Cup in Scotland and I fell in love with it. I love the unpredictability of the conditions and the bounces, and I love playing in the wind. You have to be so creative in links golf. There’s no one perfect shot, there’s no one right way to play the hole and I really enjoy that. I love keeping the ball on the ground and I love playing shots with all these different trajectories.”
It’s fair to say, then, that English is quietly excited about teeing it up at the final major of the 2021 season – and well he might be after recovering from a lengthy slump to become one of the game’s most reliable performers over the past two years. He puts this down to a variety of factors. “Sticking to the same process, doing the same thing every single day,” he says, as well as working with coach Mr Justin Parsons, an Irishman who also coaches Mr Louis Oosthuizen, a former Open champion and a serial top-five finisher in the majors. Also the close bond he has forged with his caddie, Mr Eric Larson, who served a 10-year jail sentence for selling cocaine and now “comes to the course every day with a good attitude and a new outlook on life”.
Harris English celebrates with his caddie after birding the 18th hole to take the lead after the 72nd hole of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut, 27 June 2021. Photograph by Mr Vincent Carchietta/USA TODAY Sports
Larson, who previously caddied for Mr Mark Calcavecchia, the Open champion of 1989, variously did time with Mr Jordan Belfort of The Wolf Of Wall Street fame, and Mr Tommy Chong of Cheech and Chong. He has told his current boss plenty of horror stories about the British weather, although English admits he has yet to feel its full wrath.
“I remember Royal Troon being really tough [in 2016], although I haven’t had any of those really crazy days,” says the man who was a member of the stellar golf team at the University of Georgia alongside fellow PGA Tour stars Messrs Patrick Reed, Brian Harman and Russell Henley. “I wasn’t on the course in 2015 [at St Andrews] when they had to call it for a wind delay. The Walker Cup was my first taste of getting all the four seasons in one round – the wind, the rain, the warming up when you have to take all your stuff off before it starts raining again and the wind gets up. I enjoy that. It plays into my hands of being able to grind it out.”
Harris English plays his shot from the third tee during the final round of the 2021 US Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course, San Diego, California, 20 June 2021. Photograph by Mr Sean M Haffey/Getty Images
Living on Sea Island in South Carolina means English will arrive at the Open with plenty of experience of playing in the wind. He’ll also be packing a Peter Millar outfit featuring his lucky blue – “the last two events that I’ve won, I’ve had navy pants and a lighter blue shirt. It’s definitely my favourite colour and it might as well be my lucky colour now.”
Lucky for him – and extremely lucky for one individual who staked £11.50 on six sporting outcomes, including the winners of four different golf tournaments over the same weekend. When English holed the winning putt on the eighth extra hole, the bet came in at odds of 90,396 to one, landing the London-based gambler more than £1m.
“I love the fans in the UK,” says English, whose name – a headline writer’s dream for an Open Championship played in England – might be another portent. “I love their knowledge of the game and how respectful they are of the players. They truly know what a good golf shot is. In the United States, if you don’t spin the ball back 20ft or hit it to a foot, they’re not going to clap. Folks in the UK know how hard golf is and they appreciate good golf shots, and we as players really like that. They’re very respectful of us. They’re not going to yell on your backswing, they’re not going to try to mess you up. They love Open Championship and they’re very respectful of it.”
Having won the undying love of one newly minted millionaire in Britain, Harris English is confident of earning the respect of many more fans this week. And at odds of around 80-1, he might just earn some a good deal more than that.
The Open Championship takes place 15-18 July at Royal St George’s Golf Club