The American, who's leading the Open by five shots going into Sunday's final round, was quite amused when the social media buzz about him being a lookalike of the former Australian captain was brought up as an unlikely topic at his post-round news conference on Saturday.
But the 36-year-old from Sea Island, Georgia, evidently needs to brush up on his cricket terms as he got a rare old grilling about the game.
Asked whether he'd heard anything about being a left-handed but otherwise spitting image of Ponting, a similar diminutive, gritty golf-loving sportsman who's working in the commentary box 50 miles away at the Manchester Test, Harman smiled: "Yeah, I hear a lot of Ricky, Ricky's out there.
"Yeah, I look like him ... handsome fella."
Further quizzed on what he knew about cricket, Harman continued: "Okay, on my first trip here, it was always on TV, Sky Sports cricket.
"I think I would be the typical American cricket fan in that. What's the one where they just try to knock the hell out of the thing all the time? Over 20? I enjoy that where the guy was just knocking it over the fence."
Did Harman actually know what was going on or did he just like 'the bashing'? "Well, they're running back and forth. Is that a run every time? I'm getting there. I've got an open mind. I like it!"
Harman's story has already prompted plenty of headlines in Britain, especially over his love of hunting wild animals after he had noted on Friday: "We eat a lot of wild meat at my house, so I enjoy butchering, and I do a lot of hunting."
And asked about a nickname given to him by one British tabloid on Saturday - "The Butcher of Hoylake" - Harman wasn't at all offended. "I like that one better than 'The Harmanator'.
"That made me chuckle. Someone texted me that yesterday. That's funny."
Further quizzed about his love of hunting, Harman added: "We've been on some really cool elk hunts out in Colorado, really tough hunting, and then after we harvest the animal, having to pack it out. You talk about six to eight hours packing this thing up and down these mountains.
"It's something I really enjoy doing. I enjoy putting meat in the freezer. We eat wild meat a lot at home. It's cool to know where my meat comes from.
"My dad used to take me hunting. We always made it a point that I knew how to skin a deer when I was eight years old. I enjoy it, start to finish.
"Back home at the hunting place that I own, everything we do is for the wildlife, and then when we harvest it, we respect it and take care of it and feed our families with it."
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