How The Open was won: Harman's 3 areas of dominance en route to victory

The Open Championship at Royal Liverpool has taught us one thing over the past 50 years - it won't provide a very dramatic finish, but it will identify the most dominant performance.

Tiger Woods winning in 2006 and Rory McIlroy repeating that feat in 2014 certainly didn't surprise anyone, but Brian Harman's runaway victory this week in England was not one many people saw coming.

Those who follow the PGA TOUR weekly are very familiar with Harman, who is certainly a steady player that is consistently in the mix. However, the knock on his career is the lack of wins to beef up his resume. Prior to this week, he had emerged victorious just twice on TOUR, with the last win coming six years ago in 2017.

Despite that lack of pedigree, Harman looked incredibly comfortable from the moment he took the lead early Friday morning until the final putt on Sunday.

Here are the three areas of dominance he showed in securing his first major title.

Putted his face off

Harman is known as a very good putter on the PGA TOUR, even causing legend Lee Trevino to call him "one putt" because of how often he's seen pouring it in the hole. However, this season, Harman is just inside the top 40 on TOUR in strokes gained: putting at 39th. It's safe to say that number is going to improve drastically after his performance at Royal Liverpool.

Simply put, Harman putted his face off over the four days at The Open, gaining an absolutely astonishing 11.15 strokes on the greens. He finished with 106 putts for the tournament, the lowest in the last 20 years, according to Justin Ray of the Twenty First Group.

Perhaps the most outrageous stat from Harman's putting performance was his proficiency from under 10 feet. He was nearly perfect from that distance, finishing the week an absurd 58-for-59. Harman ranks 13th on TOUR this season on those putts at a 90% clip, but to pull off that level of excellence under major championship pressure is simply unbelievable.

Avoided bogeys

It's significantly easier to avoid bogeys when you are an elite putter and pitcher of the golf ball - something Harman proved once again this week at Royal Liverpool. He entered the week ranked second on the PGA TOUR in bogey avoidance, making one on just 12.33% of his holes this season.

Harman stayed out of trouble for virtually the entirety of his 72 holes this week, with only six total bogeys for the championship. His most impressive work came on the difficult back nine at Royal Liverpool, a stretch of holes with which most struggled mightily. Harman only made two bogeys over those 36 holes this week and responded with an immediate birdie both times.

His bounce-back ability following a bogey showed how mentally strong Harman was this week, with four of his six bogeys canceled out immediately with a birdie. That's a stark departure from his usual performance in that category, as he ranks 191st on TOUR this season in bounce-back ability.

Split the fairway

In the build-up to The Open at Royal Liverpool, we highlighted how both Woods and McIlroy focused heavily on driving accuracy in their victories at the course. Woods famously only hit one driver over 72 holes in 2006 to take the bunkers out of play and keep his ball in the short grass. The end result was the 15-time major champion hitting over 85% of his fairways.

At just 5-foot-7, Harman will never be confused for one of the longer hitters on the PGA TOUR. He finished this week outside the top 100 in driving distance for the field, but he was third in accuracy, hitting over 70% of his fairways. That makes it three winners in a row at the layout that have hit at least that number of fairways en route to victory.

Both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship have leaned towards longer hitters in recent years, but the Open Championship has always been an event that favors control over pure power. Perhaps it's no wonder that Harman has thrived in the tournament the past two years.

Harman is now 27-under par over his last seven rounds of the Open dating back to Friday of last year's event at St. Andrews. Prior to Sunday, he had fired six straight rounds in the 60s - falling just one shy of Ernie Els' all-time record of seven.

If you can keep the ball out of trouble at the Open Championship, you can contend regardless of how far you hit the ball. Harman's win only strengthens that argument and should serve as a blueprint for future Opens in the United Kingdom going forward.