The 152nd Open: Who is Dan Brown? 

By Mathieu Wood

Dan Brown arrived at Royal Troon for The 152nd Open without any fanfare. But by the time he finished on the opening day in fading light, he was the focus of the golfing world.

Two birdies in his final three holes of the first round to card a flawless six-under-par 65 saw him overtake 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry at the summit of the leaderboard at the final men's Major Championship of the year.

Drawn in the penultimate group of the day, his performance on his Major Championship debut in Ayrshire on a day of rain and wind came as a big surprise.

It was only at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open that he made his first cut in almost four months on the DP World Tour, dating back to March’s Jonsson Workwear Open in South Africa.

He is the first player in men’s Major history to shoot a bogey-free 65 or lower in his first career Major, This just wasn't on the cards.

"Amazing, isn't it? he said with a smile as he spoke to reporters after a dream day.

Brown only got into this year’s Open Championship by coming through Final Qualifying at West Lancashire Golf Club earlier this month. He did so by holing a 20-foot birdie putt on the final green of the 36-hole qualifier.

That very same day, his brother, Ben, who won the English Amateur last year, was unsuccessful in his own bid to progress. A few weeks later, the pair were walking side by side at golf's oldest Major.

Going into the opening round in Troon, he was a 500-1 shot among the betting markets. Back at The Open in 2004, when Royal Troon was also the host venue, Todd Hamilton was the same odds when he caused a shock by winning the Claret Jug.

Brown, who is 272nd on the Official World Golf Ranking, is a long way from lifting silverware but despite the absence of any experience at this level of the sport he was giving no impression of someone getting carried away in the moment.

"I'm going to try and sort of keep my feet on the ground a bit and take on the job again tomorrow," he said in reply to a question about whether he had a picture of his name on top of the leaderboard.

This is a player who won the DP World Tour's ISPS HANDA World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics as he went on to reach the lucrative season-ending DP World Tour Championship in his rookie campaign last year.

Prior to that he played on development circuits around Europe after enjoying success as an amateur with victories in the 2015 Dutch Junior and 2016 English Amateur Open.

In 2020, he played no ranking events in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, before earning his full playing privileges on the Challenge Tour for 2022 thanks to his third runner-up finish of the 2021 EuroPro Tour campaign at the season-ending Matchroom Tour Championship.

He then finished 30th on last season's Road to Mallorca before graduating from the Qualifying School and quickly went on to make 16 of 19 cuts - including his first 13 - last season on the DP World Tour.

But just like is so often the case for promoted clubs in the English Premier League, his second campaign has had more challenges.

A cyst in his knee, which surfaced in Qatar in February, left him out of action for several weeks. On his return in Singapore, he began a run of form that would have brought up feelings of doubt.

But in the biggest event of his career to date, Brown was displaying all the signs of a golfer with far more experience than he has.

"I was playing well leading up to the tournament, so scores haven't really reflected it recently,'" he said.

"But, yeah, I felt comfortable and probably a bit more calm than you normally would be with it being your first major.

"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."

I used to hate it (links golf)

But on a day when big names like Rory McIlroy, Max Homa and Wyndham Clark all struggled, Brown was up to the challenge.

And this is a player who openly admits for most of his career he hasn't enjoyed playing links golf.

"I used to hate it," he said. "As an amateur, obviously you play it all the time, and you get a little bit fed up of hitting good shots and ended up in pot bunkers sometimes, which is the way it is.

"But I've found, since I've not really been playing too much links golf, that I've enjoyed it more. I've enjoyed the challenge more and the wind more and the firm conditions."

With less than £1m in career earnings, the next few days have the potential to be life-changing.

For now though, Brown is just readying himself for a few more interested onlookers when he tees it up in the second round on Friday at 11:04am.

"Just with the time of day (for my first round), I always kind of knew the Friday was going to be busier," he said.

"It might be a little bit busier than what it maybe was going to be.

"But, no, it will be nice. It will be nice to have a proper Open, major championship experience tomorrow."