Troon, Scotland. As unpredictable as the weather was for the start of the 152md Open Championship it became even more head-scratching that the 272nd ranked-player in the world has the outright lead after scoring a six-under-par 65 and a one-shot lead over 2019 Open winner Shane Lowry.
Early starters for the opening round faced a wind direction that had not been present during the practice rounds. The prevailing wind when playing Royal Troon generally comes from the north/northwest and that means the early holes usually play with the wind behind the players.
That did not happen and the additional cloud cover and spritzes of rain drops only added to the uncertainty as players sought to adjust for club selection and the appropriate trajectory for their shots.
Addingto the storyline – Daniel Brown, the 29-year-old Englishman, went through qualifying just a few weeks prior to The Open and should he manage to win would become just the 9th golfer to win in their debut at a major championship.
The two most recent able to do that include the recently announced USA Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley who did so at the 2011 PGA Championship and the even more invisible Ben Curtis who took home the Claret Jug home to Ohio after winning the 2006 Open at Royal St. George’s.
Some wondered, albeit jokingly, whether the golfer Brown is the author of The DaVinci Code. Same name – just different person. One thing is certain Brown the golfer had the right code in fashioning a bogey-free scorecard.
For Brown the appearance at a major championship produced some butterflies.
“I was nervous on the 1st tee, obviously it being my first major, but I hit a few nice shots early, so I kind of got settled into the round pretty quick.”
Brown is a member of the DP World Tour but prior to last week’s Scottish Open where he finished 61st – his performances earlier this season were hardly noteworthy, He had missed the cut in five previous starts and in the other pulled out of the event.
Scoring conditions improved and by afternoon wind conditions settled down which clearly helped Brown being one of the late starters.
“I was watching The Open before I went out this morning on TV in the house, and you’re kind of looking at how tough it is. There’s only a few guys at 1-under, 2-under, and you obviously know it’s going to be tough. Thankfully, the wind died a little bit for our back nine, so it got a bit more scorable.”
Brown ended the round in fine fashion – making birdies at the par-5 16th and the closing hole.
To his credit Brown knows one round of golf doesn’t mean anything more than just one round of golf.
“I was playing well leading up to the tournament, so scores haven’t really reflected it recently. But, yeah, I felt comfortable and probably a bit more calm than you normally would be with it being your first major.”
The competitive streak within him motivated to push onward given how Lowry was playing.
“I saw Shane obviously go to 5, and I was still stuck at 4. I was kind of like, oh, I want to push on a bit. Yeah, that was the only thought I really had. I was looking at leaderboards, but I wasn’t really thinking too much about where I was. I just kind of wanted to try and catch Shane if I could.”
Brown had brother Ben on the bag and the talents of his sibling on reading greens proved to be a positive.
“He’s been caddying for me the last few weeks. He didn’t caddie at West Lancs (West Lancashire). He was playing himself in the final qualifying. I like having him on the bag. He’s good at reading greens, and he’s obviously a good golfer himself. So, he can give good advice. To share sort of my first major with him on the bag is nice.”
Brown’s second round tee time will be the reverse of his Thursday starting time. The expectations can be enormous but Brown simply downplays them.
“Food, sleep, and then I’ll be back down probably about half 7:00 in the morning and get physio. I feel a little bit of a niggle in my back. So get that sorted and just go through the normal routine.”
No matter what happens Brown can always say he led the field after one round at The Open.
Daniel who?
Not anymore.
Selected tee times
0925 – Tiger Woods, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay
0947 – Shane Lowry, Cameron Smith, Matt Fitzpatrick
1242 – Francesco Molinari, Justin Rose, Jasper Stubbs
1253 – Justin Thomas, Sungjae Im, Matthew Southgate
1448 – Ludvig Aberg, Bryson DeChambeau, Tom Kim
1510 – Rory McIlroy, Max Homa, Tyrrell Hatton
Weather forecast
Cloudy with a chance of some early drizzle before turning brighter and breezier as the day progresses. Brisk southerly winds developing with gusts up to 28mph.
Yardages for R2
Related: Justin time?
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