Brian Harman says he received some help from Georgia coach Kirby Smart ahead of Sunday’s final round at the Open Championship.

Harman, who played golf at UGA before turning pro, won The Open by 6 strokes on Sunday. It was not a particularly close tournament — Harman led by at least 5 strokes at the end of the final 3 rounds.

But Harman admitted he was nervous ahead of Sunday’s round. He told the Golf Channel that a Kirby Smart quote helped shape his mindset for the day.

“I was a wreck last night. I’ve been a wreck the whole week,” he said. “I kept thinking about something Kirby Smart said. I’m not gonna be hunted, I’m gonna hunt.

“I decided to get out and take as much control as I could.”

Last summer, Smart said this at SEC Media Days:

People ask the question, How does it feel to be hunted? We will not be hunted at the University of Georgia. I can promise you that. The hunting we do will be from us going the other direction. We’re not going to sit back and be passive about.

That approach proved to be fruitful for the Bulldogs, who won their 2nd consecutive National Championship a few months later.

As for Harman, he was able to to hold off a rough start too his final round en route to victory. He bogeyed 2 of his first 5 holes, but then posted back-to-back birdies to get back to even on the day. From there, he cruised to his first career major championship.

Smart has been following the Open Championship closely and congratulated Harman on his win on Sunday afternoon: