After hoisting aloft the Claret Jug, Brian Harman paid tribute to the "incredible" fans at Royal Liverpool before admitting it was a smattering of boos rather than cheers that propelled him to Open glory.
The American cruised to a dominant first Major title but was met with some surprise hostility when his name was announced on Hoylake's first tee. It's a sound not typically heard this side of the pond but it had the opposite effect of that intended.
As he sat with the famous trophy, Harman was asked why he thought he received such a frosty reception.
"Don't know. You had [Tommy] Fleetwood and Rory [McIlroy] making a run. It's fine," he said.
"Everybody has got their team they're rooting for. Yeah, I heard them, and I don't hold any -- if they wanted me to not play well they should have been really nice to me."
Harman began the weekend with a five-shot lead after a brilliant Friday 65. However, the occasion appeared to get the better of him after a couple of early bogeys on Saturday, until a fan comment helped him turn the tide in his favour as he recovered to regain and consolidate his advantage ahead of Sunday's showdown.
"After I made the second bogey yesterday, a guy, when I was passing him, he said, 'Harman, you don't have the stones for this'. That helped," he joked.
"That helped a lot. It helped snap me back into, 'I'm good enough to do this. I'm going to do this. I'm going to go through my process, and the next shot is going to be good'.
"I figured at some point that I was going to hit bad shots. Just with the weather and the scenario, you're going to hit bad shots. I knew that the way I responded to that would determine whether I'd be sitting here or not."
Every part of Harman's game was purring at Hoylake but he was particularly proficient with his putter, ranking first on the greens for the week. His trusty flat stick bailed him out several times in the final round as he nervelessly kept the chasing pack at bay.
The 36-year-old bounced back from dropped shots on the second and fifth by holing birdie putts from 14 and 24 feet on the sixth and seventh. Better still was to come on the back nine. A bogey on 13 gave his rivals a glimmer of hope but he struck a hammer blow on 14, holing from 40 feet to put the win almost beyond doubt.
When all was said and done, Harman gained 11.57 shots compared to the field average on the greens as he made eight-footers look like routine tap-ins. And he credited a new training aid for his upturn in form.
"I found this -- it's a silly looking mirror where it's got like a little better release pattern. I was just kind of cutting my putts too much. I spent a lot of time just feeling the ball, almost hitting like a baby draw with my putter, and it's been really, really good the last month or so," Harman added.
"I picked it up on the putting green at some tournament over the years. There's all sorts of trinkets and different things up until Wednesday, so I saw it, liked it. Hadn't been putting very good this year until last month or so, but I found that in my barn at my house and it made sense, and I started putting well with it."
