Weekly PGA Recap: Harman Strikes the Right Chord

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

Brian Harman has had to overcome a lot his entire career.

At 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds, not to mention now 38 years old, he has a big physical disadvantage against the tall, powerful long hitters on the PGA Tour. The ones just coming out of college are almost -- almost! -- young enough to be his kid.

But what Harman has more than most golfers is grit.

And when conditions got brutally tough at TPC San Antonio on Sunday, Harman was better equipped to do whatever it took to win.

The scrappy left-hander handled the 30 mph wind and ever-so-tight pin placements to capture the Valero Texas Open by three shots at a mere 9-under-par. He shot a 3-over 75, but that was just fine in these conditions, given how hard it was on his closest challengers. Only six players broke par; one of them was runner-up Ryan Gerard.

The PGA Tour noted that 75 was the highest fourth-round score for a winner since Jon Rahm also shot 75 at the 2020 Memorial.

In winning for the fourth time in his career, Harman now heads to this week's Masters -- find out where he ranks in RotoWire's PGA Power Rankings for the 2025 Masters -- better positioned to make a dent at the first major championship of the season -- where he has not enjoyed much success through the years.

"I think Augusta has a way of snapping you right back into reality, that course can be such a challenge," Harman said. "I actually think this is a really great warmup -- not to diminish this golf tournament at all, this is a very incredible golf tournament, hard one to win, but this is a great warmup for Augusta. Augusta gets tricky winds, Augusta has pins that are perched up on top of spots just like they are around here."

Harman needed this week in the worst way before playing the Masters. This has not been a good season. He sat 83rd in the FedExCup Standings and had nearly fallen out of the top 50 in the world rankings. He's now back up to No. 22. Harman hadn't had a top-10 since last June, hadn't had a top-20 in 2025 and hadn't won since the 2023 Open Championship -- also in dicey weather.

"Yeah, I changed putters this week," Harman said. "Like I said, I looked at my stats from last year and I probably had the best iron game of my career, approach to the green, and probably my worst year from 10 to 20 feet putting. So still really good inside 10 feet, but that section there is where I was getting all my looks and I wasn't making any of them."

Asked what the make and model of the new putter are, Harman replied: "It's a TaylorMade of some sort. I'm not sure what all the letters and numbers on the bottom of it are, but it's good."

(Remember, you weekend duffers, when you head to your local golf shop, make sure to ask for the TaylorMade putter with letters and numbers on the bottom.)

Whatever he used, Harman ranked sixth in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. He was also first in Approach. That's a good recipe for success anywhere. And that includes Augusta National. Despite his difficulties this season, Harman had been an accurate driver and an excellent greens-in-regulation guy, ranking top-25 on Tour in both stats. 

"Obviously this week went great. There's still some stuff that -- I haven't been driving it quite as well as I'd like to when you're thinking about trying to win majors and stuff like that, but super pleased with the way I played this week."

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Ryan Gerard
Gerard needed to win to get into the Masters. Finishing second for the first time on Tour, notching back-to-back top-10s for the first time and qualifying for the next Signature Event at the RBC Heritage via the Aon Swing 5 -- those joining him are Karl Vilips, Gary Woodland, Ryo Hisatsune and Sami Valimaki -- the week after Augusta are pretty darn good consolation prizes. Gerard shot a spectacular 3-under 69 -- six strokes better than Harman -- to jump 15 spots on the leaderboard. He is up to a career-best No. 79 in the world rankings and will have a guaranteed payday and OWGR points upcoming in two weeks.

Maverick McNealy
McNealy heads into his first Masters with a tie for third, one that elevated him into the top-10 in the world rankings for the first time.

Andrew Novak
Novak had missed the cut in four of his past seven starts but he entered Sunday in the final group. He ballooned to a 76 but still wound up with a podium finish, his second top-three on the season. He also did it at the Farmers.

Bud Cauley
Cauley is back inside the top 100 of the OWGR for the first time in eight years. He tied for fifth, his third straight top-6 in what has been a remarkable career turnaround.

Ryo Hisatsune
This season has mostly been a struggle with a series of missed cuts. But the young Japanese player tied for fourth at the Valspar and now for fifth at the Valero. As mentioned above, he's qualified for the RBC Heritage.

Patrick Fishburn
Fishburn also tied for fifth but his big headline is that he made a putt of 105 feet, 8 inches on the par-4 17th on Sunday -- the longest make on Tour since 2008 (Craig Barlow, 111 feet, Buick Open).

Jordan Spieth
The former Valero winner played, oh, okay. He tied for 12th. Spieth opened with a 67 but couldn't keep it going. If there's ever a course where Spieth can return to past glory, it's Augusta National.

Cameron Young
Maybe the only guy on Tour who needed a good week more than Young was Max Homa (see below). Both have been brutally bad in 2025. Young, however, had himself a good week at just the right time. He tied for 18th and now heads to the Masters, where he's had top-10s the past two years.

Corey Conners
Conners didn't win a third Valero. Still, he was looking at a top-10 until closing with a 74 to fade to T18.

Rickie Fowler
Fowler won't be in the Masters. He tied for 30th.

Patrick Cantlay
Cantlay was in the thick of things till the weekend. He then shot 74-77 and tied for 33rd.

Gary Woodland
Woodland couldn't recreate the magic from last week's Houston Open. But his T40 was enough to get him into the next Signature Event at Harbour Town via the Aon Swing 5.

Keegan Bradley
Bradley fell down the leaderboard on Sunday with a final-round 77 to end in a tie for 47th.

Tony Finau
It has not been a great season for Finau. After opening with a 69, he shot twin 76s on the weekend and wound up T56.

Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood finished in a tie for 62nd. It wouldn't have been a good week regardless, but shooting an 81 on Sunday was not the best way to head to the Masters.

MISSED CUTS

Ludvig Aberg, Akshay Bhatia, Hideki Matsuyama, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Alex Smalley. For Aberg, Bhatia and Matsuyama, missing the cut before the Masters is no big deal. … Homa and Fitzpatrick, however, could've used some good news during down seasons. … The clock may have struck midnight for Smalley. After a run of four straight top-25s, he has now missed three straight cuts.