Five things to know about The British Open Championship leader Daniel Brown

Who is Daniel Brown, the eighth-year pro who leads heading into Friday at The 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon in his first major championship start?

He’s a 29-year-old English pro who has steadily ascended the professional golf ranks, waiting patiently for his moment. His recent form didn’t indicate this might be in the cards: He arrived at Royal Troon having made just one cut in his past eight starts, a 61st-place effort at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open – but he found a groove Friday afternoon at the venerable Scottish seaside venue, and he didn’t let up.

Now he has earned a place in the greater sporting consciousness into Friday at the season’s final men’s major. No male pro has won in his first major start since Keegan Bradley at the 2011 PGA Championship, but there’s precedent for lesser-knowns to contend at The Open. Amateur Christo Lamprecht shared the first-round lead at last year’s Open at Royal Liverpool, and amateur Paul Dunne shared the 54-hole lead at the 2015 Open at St. Andrews, among other examples. One of major-championship golf’s most memorable underdog tales came here at Royal Troon in 2004, as PGA TOUR rookie Todd Hamilton prevailed over Ernie Els in a four-hole aggregate playoff.

Could there be a new Hamilton to raise the claret jug at Royal Troon? Brown plans to give it his best shot.

“I was struggling to feel my legs a little bit,” Brown said of his first tee shot Thursday. “After that, I got quite settled.”

Here are five things to know about major first-timer Brown, who entered the week at No. 273 on the Official World Golf Ranking but is atop The Open leaderboard into Friday.

1. He got here via Final Qualifying

The 152nd Open Championship offered 16 spots via 36-hole Final Qualifying across four sites in the United Kingdom, an event similar to “Golf’s Longest Day,” which allows players to qualify for the U.S. Open. Brown earned his Open spot via Final Qualifying at West Lancashire, doing so in dramatic fashion with a 20-foot birdie on the final hole that allowed him to avoid a playoff with Ben Schmidt. (Brown finished two strokes clear of TOUR winners Sergio Garcia and Carlos Ortiz across 36 holes.)

Brown had never previously competed in a major championship, and Final Qualifying was his route to doing so. It’s the beauty of an “open” tournament, and he has made the most of it.

2. He has embraced a journeyman-type career arc

After turning pro in 2017, Brown competed on various smaller circuits including the Evolve Pro Tour (winning twice in 2018) and the PGA EuroPro Tour from 2019 to 2021. He competed full-time on the 2022 Challenge Tour, finishing No. 30 on the season-long standings to secure conditional status at minimum for the 2023 DP World Tour. He then finished third at Q-School’s Final Stage to earn a full DP World Tour card, and he entered the winner’s circle last fall with a victory at the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland, five strokes clear of Alex Fitzpatrick.

His 2024 season has been more of a struggle. He arrived at Royal Troon at No. 75 on the DP World Tour’s season-long Race to Dubai and trending downward, after he finished No. 50 as a rookie in 2023. But a strong weekend at the Scottish links could change a lot of things.

3. His childhood home course is a former deer park

Brown grew up in England’s North Yorkshire region, with his hometown of Northallerton situated roughly 50 miles north of Leeds. He learned the game at Bedale Golf Club, which opened in 1894 and measures less than 6,600 yards. The course is set on a former deer park, per the club’s website, and “winds through beautiful 18th-century parkland … with wide, tree-lined fairways and long-range views of the Wensleydale Hills.”

It's an affordable track, too. Tee times for this Friday are listed for as low as £15 (roughly $19) – and are still available as of this publication. Brown eventually relocated to nearby Masham Golf Club and now plays out of Romanby Golf & Country Club, but his roots are at Bedale.

4. He recently battled a cyst in his knee

Brown’s recent form didn’t suggest that success was in the offing, but that’s the beauty of golf. He struggled through a lower-body ailment earlier this year – a cyst in his knee, he said on Instagram in March – which perhaps contributed to uneven form.

He might be getting healthy at just the right time, as he played bogey-free in tricky conditions Thursday at Royal Troon, capped off with an 8-foot birdie on the par-4 18th hole in the fading twilight.

“I haven’t really got going since (the win), but there’s no player in the world who doesn’t go through a spell where they’re struggling," said Brown after earning his spot via Final Qualifying. "I haven’t been playing badly – I’ve just been impatient, and I had to be patient here.”

5. His younger brother is caddying for him at Royal Troon

Brown found an extra edge on the greens late Thursday afternoon from his brother Ben, also a competitive golfer, who is caddying this week at Royal Troon and has also been on the bag for the last few DP World Tour events.

Ben Brown plays high-level competitive golf (he won the 2022 U18 Fairhaven Trophy outside Blackpool, England) and also competed at Final Qualifying but did not advance. He hasn’t played much lately due to injury, and his brother has relished their time together inside the ropes – including Thursday.

“I was struggling on the last few holes to … see the slopes and stuff on the green,” Daniel Brown said. “So it was hard to read putts, but thankfully he knows AimPoint, so I was kind of putting my trust in him for the last sort of like two or three holes.

“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.”