TRUNE, Scotland – The first round at Royal Troon brought down many of the world’s best players, but England’s Daniel Brown – currently ranked 272nd in the world – handled the test with unexpected ease. The 29-year-old from Northallerton shot a bogey-free 65 to take a one-shot lead at the Open Championship.
In his first Open, let alone playing in his first major championship, Brown led the field in strokes gained off the tee and had a similarly strong performance. He finished 4.5 shots on the greens and tied for second in strokes gained on the field at Royal Troon. Brown is making his third PGA Tour start and is coming off a cut at the Scottish Open, but has missed six cuts in a row before that. According to Athletic Contributor Justin Ray Brown is the only player in the last 30 years to start his major career with a bogey-free round of 65 or less.
Hiding behind Brown is a player familiar with the brutal contact conditions that lasted at Royal Troon on Thursday. Shane Lowry sits tied for second at 5-under-par. Lowry, who won the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush in his native Ireland, has become a big stage player in recent years. He has two wins on the PGA Tour, but has won at Portrush and has finished T25 or better in 15 of his last 22 majors.
Lowry kept himself in good condition throughout the day, while many of his contemporaries were buried in thick ravines and deep bunkers. Meanwhile, he made no mistakes on the greens, leading the field while making 14 putts within 10 feet. He took the lead in no. He bogeyed 7, 8 and 10 and settled for six straight pars before a pin-seeking approach to birdie on the 18th.
Lowry has had a tough start to 2024, as he admitted in his win at the Zurich Classic team event, with teammate Rory McIlroy taking him on at times. Since that win, Lowry has been T6 at the PGA Championship, T19 at the US Open and T9 at the Travelers.
Justin Thomas headed into the clubhouse leading the morning slate after a 68 in tough conditions. Thomas struggled a lot in his life with connection courses. Perfectly suited to the two-time major winner’s creative, versatile playing style, Thomas’ best Open finish is T11 in 2019 and his next best is T40. He has missed three of seven Open cuts, and last year he opened with an 82 at Royal Liverpool, the lowest point.
Thursday, however, Thomas hit the greens efficiently and finished the holes well. He finished in the top 10 in the field in strokes gained while making 16 of 18 putts within 20 feet.
Perhaps most interestingly, Thomas responded when the course got the best of him. After opening the first 10 at 4-under with a two-shot lead, he was no. He double-bogeyed the 12th and followed it up with another bogey on the 13th. Royal Troon had been devouring players all day at that point, but Thomas finished the round with birdies. 17 and 18.
“I feel like everything is back on track and I’m working on the right things,” Thomas said. “Like I said, I don’t have a lot to show for it. This game goes like this sometimes. But I know I’m close the way I am, I’ll just keep playing, not playing for results, playing for my game and it will take care of itself.”
Outside of Thomas, the Europeans played well in the international majors. In addition to great starts by Lowry and Brown, England’s Justin Rose shot a bogey-free 69, and 23-year-old Dane Nikolaj Højgaard and Swede Alex Noren also finished at 2-under.
Xander Schauffele — who won the PGA Championship in May with them at age 69 — and Russell Henley were looking for his first major win.
But many of the industry’s biggest stars were seemingly kicked out. At last month’s US Open, the top two players, McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau, were at 7 and 5 over, respectively. McIlroy had just one birdie all day, and DeChambeau shot 6 through eight holes and, like him, needed an eagle on 16.
“It’s a completely different test,” DeCambeau said. “I haven’t had any practice in it and I haven’t played much in the rain. Yes, here it is a tough test. Something I’m not familiar with.”
Tiger Woods, playing all four majors in a year for the first time since 2019, started off on Day 1 but quickly dropped eight shots over the next nine holes to eventually finish 8 over. This places him 140th in the field. Woods, 48, has never finished better than 47th in the seven majors he has played since suffering a serious leg injury in his 2021 car accident.
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(Photo: Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)
