Golf

Daniel Brown hopes to have cracked the Open code after steady second round

The unheralded Northallerton professional served up a late-night thriller at Royal Troon on Thursday.

Daniel Brown has caught the eye at the Open
Daniel Brown has caught the eye at the Open (Zac Goodwin/PA)
By Andy Hampson, PA

Daniel Brown produced a gripping sequel to his stunning first-round Open performance on Friday – then hoped his famous namesake would be mistaken for him.

The previously unheralded Northallerton professional served up a late-night thriller at Royal Troon on Thursday when he carded a brilliant six-under-par 65 in the day’s penultimate group to claim an unexpected one-stroke lead.

The 29-year-old qualifier followed that up with a steady 72 in his second round to sit on five under – still looking down on most of the field – at the halfway stage.

Since turning professional seven years ago, Brown has grown used to jokes comparing him to the best-selling writer Dan Brown, author of ‘Angels and Demons’ and ‘The Da Vinci Code’, but now wants to reverse that situation.

“Yes, I’ve had that a lot,” he said. “The whole Da Vinci Code and all that kind of thing.

“Hopefully, I can start making a bit of a name for myself, and people will say that to him, ‘are you the golfer?’”

Brown has tried to take being thrust into the limelight in his stride.

He said: “I’ve always been quite laid back really. I think I am a bit of a realist as well.

Daniel Brown followed up his first-round 65 with 72 on Friday
Daniel Brown followed up his first-round 65 with 72 on Friday (Zac Goodwin/PA)

“I know I’m not going to start getting ahead of myself and thinking, ‘oh my God, I’m leading the Open or I’m second in the Open or whatever’.

“There’s still 36 holes left. I might have a good round tomorrow, and then I might have a stinky round on Sunday. You just don’t know.”

After stepping off the course just after 9.30pm on Thursday, he was back on the first tee at 11.04am the following morning.

With such a tight turnaround, he has had little time to take in the enormity of his achievement so far and now hopes a few games of table tennis will keep him grounded ahead of the weekend.

He said: “I managed to get quite a bit of sleep, seven or eight hours. I was knackered. I don’t think I’ve had a late finish like that in a long time.

“Tonight, thankfully, they’ve got a ping pong table in the players’ lounge. So we’ll probably have a few games of that. I’ve got a few of my mates here and they’ve got players’ lounge passes.

“We’ve got a house 10 minutes down the road and I’ve got a few of my mates staying as well. They’ll do a good job in keeping my mind off it.”