Underdog Daniel Brown passes Shane Lowry for The Open lead

Little-known Daniel Brown of England birdied Nos. 16 and 18 as darkness approached to shoot a bogey-free, 6-under-par 65 and grab the first-round lead at the 152nd Open Championship on Thursday at Royal Troon in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland.

Brown, ranked No. 272 in the world, leapfrogged 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry after the Irishman set the pace with a bogey-free 66. Justin Thomas is alone in third after a 3-under 68.

A one-time winner on the DP World Tour, the 29-year-old Brown had a round to remember in his major championship debut.

After playing the front nine in 2 under, Brown briefly tied Lowry’s lead at 4 under with a pair of improbable birdie putts — from nearly 35 feet at No. 10 and about 42 feet at No. 11.

Lowry went on to stick his second shot at the par-4 18th to 5 feet of the pin, prompting a roar from the crowd, and set up a go-ahead birdie to retake sole possession of the lead.

“It’s only one day. We’ve got three more days,” Lowry said. “I kept telling myself that out there because for some reason I felt like the crowd were getting very excited out there.”

But Brown stayed steady on the back nine as visibility began to fade. He recovered from a wayward second shot at the par-5 16th and sank a 13-footer for birdie to tie Lowry again. Then he drained an 8-foot putt at about 9:30 p.m. local time to take the top spot for himself.

After missing the fairway and green and the par-4 10th, Lowry made a crucial save by sinking a 24-foot putt for par. He took that momentum to the 11th, where his 20 1/2-foot birdie putt fell to give the tournament its first new outright leader in several hours.

“I went out there, lucky I watched a lot of golf this morning and I saw that the golf course was not playing easy,” Lowry said. “Yeah, just tried to go out and play my game and hit some good shots and hole a few putts, and I did that, and I’m pretty happy.”

Thomas, a two-time major champion who’s struggled in recent seasons, set the early pace by making seven birdies to offset two bogeys and a double. A chip-in birdie at the second hole sent him on his way, and he was 4 under through 11 holes before losing his tee shot at the par-4 12th.

Settling for double bogey there and bogey at No. 13 didn’t take him out of the running amid the cool, rainy conditions on the Scottish seaside. Thomas birdied his final two holes, getting a 25-foot birdie putt at No. 18 to fall to take the lead outright.

“I feel like everything has been turning the right way, and I’ve been working on the right things,” said Thomas, who’s winless since the 2022 PGA Championship. “Just like I said, I haven’t really had much to show for it. That’s just how this game works sometimes. But I know that I’m close the way it is, and I’m just going to keep playing and not play for results, just play for my game, and it’ll take care of itself.”

Reigning PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele contended for the lead with three birdies in his first 11 holes before settling for a 2-under 69. He is tied with six others, including Justin Rose — the 43-year-old Englishman who had to go through final qualifying to make the field.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler finished birdie-bogey-birdie to post a 1-under 70. Past major winners Brooks Koepka, Matt Fitzpatrick of England and Adam Scott of Australia also shot 70.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is in danger of missing Friday’s cut after a disastrous 7-over 78. At the par-3 eighth hole, nicknamed “Postage Stamp” for its small green, McIlroy found “The Coffin” bunker off the tee. On his first attempt to punch out, the ball trickled back down the slope into the sand.

After taking double bogey there and bogey at No. 10, McIlroy drove out of bounds at the par-4 11th and incurred another double bogey.

“The conditions are very difficult in a wind that we haven’t seen so far this week,” McIlroy said. “I guess when that happens, you play your practice rounds, you have a strategy that you think is going to help you get around the golf course, but then when you get a wind you haven’t played in, it starts to present different options and you start to think about maybe hitting a few clubs that you haven’t hit in practice. Yeah, just one of those days where I just didn’t adapt well enough to the conditions.”

Tiger Woods similarly struggled to an 8-over 79. He only hit 10 of 18 greens in regulation and had two double bogeys to go with two birdies and six bogeys.

–Field Level Media