After American Brian Harman hit his opening tee shot of the final round of the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on Sunday, someone in the grandstands shouted, “Hit it in the bunkers!”

When Harman, who came into the round with a 5-stroke lead, pushed his approach shot right of the second green, there was an audible cheer from the gallery.

After Harman grabbed a 5-stroke lead with a 5-under 67 in the second round Friday, it seemed like all of Great Britain wanted anyone to win but him. He had turned England’s Super Bowl into a first-half rout and never relinquished the lead.

Harman, the 26th-ranked player in the world, finished his surprising run at rain-drenched Royal Liverpool by carding a 1-under 70 in the final round Sunday to win the Claret Jug with a 72-hole total of 271, which was 6 shots better than South Korea’s Tom Kim, Austria’s Sepp Straka, Australia’s Jason Day and Spain’s Jon Rahm.

“It’s fine,” Harman said of the jeering. “Everybody has got their team they’re rooting for. Yeah, I heard them, and if they wanted me to not play well they should have been really nice to me.”

Harman’s 6-stroke margin of victory matches the second largest in Open Championship history by golfers representing the United States; Tiger Woods won the Claret Jug with an 8-stroke margin at St. Andrews in Scotland in 2000.

Harman, 36, is the oldest first-time major champion since Spain’s Sergio Garcia, 37, won the Masters in 2017. He collects $3 million for the win.

“I’ve always had a self-belief that I could do something like this,” Harman said. “It’s just when it takes so much time it’s hard not to let your mind falter, like maybe I’m not winning again. I’m 36 years old. [The] game is getting younger. All these young guys coming out, hit it a mile, and they’re all ready to win. Like when is it going to be my turn again? “It’s been hard to deal with. I think someone mentioned that I’ve had more top 10s than anyone since 2017, so that’s a lot of times where you get done, you’re like, ‘Dammit, man, I had that one.’ It just didn’t happen for whatever reason.”

Harman, a 125-1 underdog to win The Open, wasn’t a favorite in Las Vegas or outside the ropes at Royal Liverpool. He probably wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

On Saturday, while playing with Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, Harman said he heard some things that were “unrepeatable.”

“I’d be lying if I didn’t hear some things that weren’t super nice today toward me,” Harman said. “I hear them, but at the same time, I don’t try to let that influence the decision I’m about to make.”

On Sunday, fans cheered loudly for Fleetwood, who grew up 30 miles away in Southport, England. They tried to rally Rory McIlroy, who won the last Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in 2014 and was trying to end a nine-year drought without a major championship title.