Before Brian Harman captured the British Open, he was a John Deere Cl…

The John Deere Classic, Illinois’ only annual PGA Tour event, is known for its first-time winners. It’s had 23 of those in its 52-year history, and Brian Harman was one of them.

Harman, who won the British Open by a whopping 6-stroke margin on Sunday, made the JDC his first victory in 2014 at TPC Deere Run in Silvis.

He had only one other victory — the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship in North Carolina — until his runaway win at England’s Royal Liverpool in the final major championship of 2023.

Only one of the JDC’s first-time winners, Jordan Spieth in 2017, went on to win the British Open and just one of the JDC’s other champions, Zach Johnson in 2015, captured a British Open title. That made Harman’s win unusual — but it was even more than that.

Imagine two former JDC champions standing one-two much of the day in Sunday’s final round. Austrian Sepp Straka, who won at TPC Deere Run earlier this month, tied for second in the…