Harman ready for chance at Augusta National

Somewhere along the fast track to golf stardom, Brian Harman took a detour through college.

The intervening decade between becoming the youngest American player in Walker Cup history to a 28-year-old Masters rookie were hardly wasted on the Savannah, Ga., native.

“I thought about it a lot and I wonder sometimes how my life could have been different, because I believe that I was ready to play professional golf when I was 18,” Harman said. “When I got to college I was a little hurt, didn’t do quite as good as I wanted to and my confidence took a little bit of a hit. It took me awhile to get over that and get back to where I was.

“But at the same time I wouldn’t trade those years for anything. Some of my best buddies, we played at Georgia together and we still go out to eat and play together. So it’s hard for me to say that I made a bad decision.”

Harman’s junior career was so full of superlatives, he was labeled a sure thing. The left-hander was a two-time AJGA player of the year in 2003-04, joining an exclusive fraternity that includes Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. As the youngest member of the 2005 Walker Cup team, Harman was the only undefeated American with a 2-0-1 record to help the U.S. team snap a three-match losing streak with a 12.5-11.5 victory at Chicago Golf Club.

The 2003 U.S. Junior Amateur champion had plenty of options but chose to play for Georgia.

“People had him pegged to never even go to college,” said Jim Douglas, Georgia’s longtime assistant coach. “He had the best junior career I ever saw.”

Harman was a three-time second-team all-American at Georgia – one of three players to never miss qualifying for a tournament in four seasons. But the transition wasn’t as smooth as his junior record forecast.

“As a junior, when he was winning everything, he never saw a flag he didn’t like,” said Chris Haack, his college coach. “He would hit everything at flags. It’s harder to go at flags with 5-irons than 9-irons when courses get longer and tougher. He had to learn to back off a little bit.”

But beyond golf, it was the collegiate experience that Harman embraced. The son of a dentist (father) and chemist (mother), he excelled academically while simultaneously wringing the most out of his four years in Athens, Ga.

“He had fun when he was in college and that was OK, too,” Haack said. “He liked dating and football games and basketball games and being a regular college kid. I don’t think he would trade his four years here for anything.”

Harman turned pro in 2009 after competing in his second Walker Cup and earned his PGA Tour card with a tie for eighth in 2011 at Q School. He flashed his potential as a rookie with a course-record 61 at PGA National in the 2012 Honda Classic and has never struggled to retain his card.

His breakthrough finally came last season in the John Deere Classic, where he outdueled 2007 Masters champion Zach Johnson for his first PGA Tour victory.

“He’s fierce,” Johnson said of his fellow Sea Island, Ga., resident. “There’s not a whole lot of fear there. Might be a small guy, stature-wise. But there is nothing small about him in his golf game.”

That victory finally got Harman to the Masters. He played Augusta National for the first time when he was 16 and then five times while he was in college.

But the Masters is a tournament he’s been striving to reach since he was 12, and getting there feels like the fulfillment of some destiny.

“Obviously the Masters is something that Georgia guys have always looked up to,” he said. “Even as a kid, I always saw myself playing at Augusta. When I’d watch it I always put myself there. I’m elated to be there but at the same time I’m not shocked that I’m there. I’m going there to compete, not just to have a vacation. I’m going there to win the golf tournament. Whether I’m capable or not, I don’t know. We’ll have to see.”

Augusta National was been good for left-handers, with Mike Weir (2003), Phil Mickelson (2004, ’06, ’10) and fellow Georgia Bulldog Bubba Watson (2012, ’14) claiming half of the last 12 green jackets. Harman hopes it sets up just as well for him.

“It ought to because all the other courses set up for right-handers,” he laughed. “I’ve played that course numerous times but never in tournament conditions.”

Despite the longer-than-expected route to Magnolia Lane, Harman is ready to make the most of the opportunity.

“I’ll be very nervous but I’ll be ready,” he said. “It’s what I’ve always wanted to do, so I welcome the nervousness. I welcome the pressure. … I’ve got a chance to win the biggest golf tournament in the world. You can’t win if you’re not in.”