Daniel Brown shocks world at The Open, surprisingly stays in contention

One of The Open Championship qualifiers, Daniel Brown, is in contention after two rounds of play.

He led The Open after Thursday when he signed for a 6-under 65. However, he fell one spot down the leaderboard Friday when he carded a 1-over 73 to sit two behind the leader, Shane Lowry.

Brown is not well known among golf fans, but he has handled these treacherous conditions like a seasoned veteran. With that said, he quickly admitted that Friday played a lot harder than Thursday.

“It was certainly three or four shots harder, I would have said,” Brown said.

“Even the front nine played a lot stronger, and then the back, you would think going back downwind, would make it easier, but it was so firm that it was a proper struggle to try and hold onto some of the greens.”

He could not get much going on the front nine as he made two bogeys, but Brown got one of those strokes back on the par-4 10th. The Englishman got back to even par for the day on the 17th, thanks to his second birdie. But he quickly coughed that up on the 18th, as a tough break led him to make a bogey on the final hole.

This week is Brown’s debut in The Open, and while it is exciting for the 272nd-ranked player in the world to be towards the top of the leaderboard, he is no spring chicken. So much golf remains, so he chose to reign in his excitement.

“I played enough golf to know that 18 holes—it obviously puts you in a good situation, but still having 54 holes left, it’s a bit of a mammoth climb when you’re playing in conditions like that,” he said.

“I knew that in the blink of an eye, you could drop a few shots, and then you’re kind of, not out of it, but yeah, it’s a long old week, and you’ve got to stick in and hang around and hopefully you can still get out on Sunday. “

The 29-year-old English pro has made one cut in his past eight events but somehow caught lightning in a bottle through 36 holes this week. He finished 61st last week at the Genesis Scottish Open.

Brown said it was not a poor performance but more so knocking off the rust after having over six weeks off due to a knee injury.

The Englishman has 36 holes left to play and will play alongside Lowry in the final group on Saturday. How do you think the first-timer will handle the pressure and conditions of the weekend at the Open Championship?

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.