Golf’s final major championship of the year concluded with the second straight first-time major winner besting the world’s top players.
Thirty-six-year-old American Brian Harman won the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England on Sunday and the $3 million first-place prize. The surprising win comes just a month after Wyndham Clark was able to fend off Rory McIlroy to win his first major championship at the U.S. Open in Los Angeles.
The major championship season began with fireworks as Jon Rahm outdueled Brooks Koepka in a PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf battle at the Masters. Koepka was able to rebound at the PGA Championship to claim his fifth major title, giving new life to the LIV circuit that would agree to merge operations with the PGA Tour less than a month later.
Although LIV can technically still recruit players from the PGA Tour, there is far less friction than a year ago when Champion Golfer of the Year Cam Smith defected from the PGA Tour shortly after his first major victory at St. Andrews.
Twice As Nice
About 500 miles south of the Open Championship, Jonas Vingegaard claimed his second straight Tour de France victory in Paris on Sunday and the nearly $550,000 winner’s payout.
After a tight battle with 2020 and 2021 champion Tadej Pogačar that saw the two cyclists separated by mere seconds at the end of several stages, the Danish rider pulled away in the final days to win by more than seven minutes.
Meanwhile, the second edition of the Tour de Frances Femmes — a new women’s event launched last year — began on Sunday in Clermont-Ferrand. The race will play out over eight stages, ending on Sunday, July 30.
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