At last gravity made a grab for Dan Brown at this Open Championship. The double bogey at the 54th hole means he will have two shots to claw back on Sunday if he is to pull off his mission improbable.
The Yorkshires pig farmers son, with a taste for country music and a crafty fag, will fly the flag for the golfing everyman into the final round but after keeping his head above water for so long at a sodden Troon, the six as a send-off was frustrating.
Still, the bald facts are that a qualifier on his Open debut, rated a 400-1 shot before the first ball was struck, lies second with 18 holes to play and will accompany the World No 1 Scottie Scheffler in the final round. In his wildest dreams Brown cannot have envisaged that.
After the last two holes its a bit of kick in the teeth but if youd told me I would be going into the final round one or two shots back I would have ripped your hand off, he said.
Its a bit nasty to finish like that but the way I have handled myself I think I can have a right go tomorrow.
I suppose a lot of people expected I would be shaky today and very nervous but I have felt fine. I didnt know if I would wake up and be nervous and sweaty and whatever but felt OK and think will be tomorrow.
Im quite a calm, relaxed person anyway.
There will be pressure tomorrow but for a player who knows real pressure not the top of the giant yellow leaderboard type it should come as a privilege. In 2018 he was unable to complete his Challenge Tour season after running out of money. In 2019 he was all set to give up the game completely after becoming disillusioned with living a hand-to-mouth existence on the minor tours. It had got to the point where he had started to apply for supermarket jobs.
Then Covid struck and in a way it proved a blessing for him. The period of introspection it forced upon him persuaded Brown to recommit. He pulled the clubs out again and went at it hard. He worked his way up through the EuroPro Tour and the Challenge Tour in successive seasons to play his way onto the DP World Tour in 2022 where his first win came at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland 11 months ago.
Even so, it could hardly be classed as life-changing given that, at 29 and No 272 in the world, he still lives at home with his parents in the village of Burneston. For a player so anonymous until this point he is without a sponsor on his golf wear, this week truly could be. Parents Mick and Kay, a mortgage broker, travelled up to watch him in his first Open but only booked initially for the Thursday night. Im superstitious, explained Kay.
Brown is sharing a rental house for the championship in nearby Symington with his 19-year-old brother Ben his caddie this week and a group of five friends. They have been amusing themselves away from the golf by feasting on Dominos pizza, hanging out in the hot tub and playing a five-day Test cricket match in the garden. Presumably the covers have been in use.
The drenching the leaders took in round three made for a soggy Saturday made it a challenging day for everyone involved, caddies included. Ben, the current English amateur champion, is a fine player in his own right but having missed out in qualifying he is taking to his bag role like a duck to water. This is the fifth week caddying for him. Its going alright. We dont seem to have too many fallouts, he said. Were both pretty laid-back and relaxed.
Official starter David Lancaster introduced him as Daniel Brown on the first tee to welcoming applause on Saturday. He prefers Dan as he associates the full moniker with childhood tellings off but, hey-ho, it was not a day to quibble.
He was tested from start to finish but some cool approach play combined with the hottest putter in the championship maintained his challenge. There were back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh where he produced a fabulous recovery shot to three feet from way out on the right after an errant tee shot had almost connected with Scottie Scheffler two groups ahead.
He gave a shot back at the Postage Stamp after finding the Coffin bunker and another at the tenth but there was no sign of panic. Instead, as the Glasgow to Ayr train rattled past, he sparked up a cigarette on the 11th fairway and took stock. A laser-guided approach to the 12th offered him a chance for the fourth of his five birdies and he duly knocked it in.
Daniel Brown converts this approach for birdie to lead The 152nd Open by 1 shot. pic.twitter.com/TghMp2ZgTV
The Open (@TheOpen) July 20, 2024
In doing so a player whose previous eight tournaments have yielded six missed cuts and a withdrawal took the outright lead. He could not hold onto it and those three dropped shots on the last two holes will have left him with inevitable regrets but whatever happens from hereon in, Brown has made quite a mark on this Open Championship.
He has been a breath of fresh air except for the smoking.
The cigarettes are just a bit of a bad habit I have got into. I only really do it when I am golfing so it could be a coping mechanism, he said.
My mum and dad are here, a lot of people are watching and I dont know how they will take it. They [my parents] know I smoke but I dont do it in front of them and want to hide it a little bit. I was trying to sneak them in really.
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