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British Open 2024: Watch Brian Harman team up with a bridge for the luckiest break of the week

By Alex Myers

July 21, 2024

Stuart Kerr/R&A

They say you need some good breaks to win a major championship. Brandel Chamblee certainly reminded everyone of that during Bryson DeChambeau's U.S. Open win at Pinehurst. But golfers will take good luck at anytime. No matter where they are on the leaderboard.

Such was the case for Brian Harman on Sunday at Royal Troon. The defending British Open champ entered the final round with no chance of holding onto the claret jug for another year, but the Georgia native hit a shot that showed the UK golf gods are still smiling on him.

It came on the third hole when Harman elected an iron off the tee and smoked one down the middle. But as we've seen throughout the week, that's not always a good thing. Harman's golf ball took a big hop and bounded toward a burn he undoubtedly thought he couldn't reach.

But his ball did reach. And it would have gotten wet if it didn't perfectly align with one of the narrow walking bridges going across it. Check out this amazing stroke of good fortune:

Wow, that's something. And what a great call. "No, no. Yes, YES!"

We're guessing Harman didn't see any of that unfolding from the tee. Again, he thought he was safely down the middle. But he had to have cracked a big smile when he found his ball on the other side of the burn.

Sadly, though, Harman didn't capitalize on the break. Although he made par on the hole, Harman bogeyed his next five holes and seven of his next eight to tumble near the bottom of the board. But, hey, it could have been worse.

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Is it the British Open or the Open Championship? The name of the final men’s major of the golf season is a subject of continued discussion. The event’s official name, as explained in this op-ed by former R&A chairman Ian Pattinson, is the Open Championship. But since many United States golf fans continue to refer to it as the British Open, and search news around the event accordingly, Golf Digest continues to utilize both names in its coverage.