TROON, Scotland — The first round at Royal Troon humbled many of the best players in the world, but Englishman Daniel Brown — currently ranked No. 272 in the world — unexpectedly handled the test with ease. The 29-year-old from Northallerton shot a bogey-free 65 to take a one-shot lead at the Open Championship.
Playing in his first major championship, let alone his first Open, Brown led the field in strokes gained off the tee and had a similarly strong putting performance. He gained 4.5 shots on the greens to rank second in strokes gained putting among the field at Royal Troon. Brown is making just his third PGA Tour start, and he’s coming off of a made cut at the Scottish Open, but six consecutive missed cuts before that. According to The Athletic contributor Justin Ray, Brown is the only player in the last 30 years to begin his major career with a bogey-free round of 65 or lower.
Behind Brown lurks a player who is more than familiar with the brutal link conditions that lingered at Royal Troon on Thursday. Shane Lowry sits in solo second place at 5-under-par. Lowry, who won the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush in his native Ireland, has become something of a big-stage player in recent years. He has just two wins on the PGA Tour but has the win at Portrush and finished T25 or better in 15 of his last 22 majors.
Lowry put himself in good positions all day while so many of his contemporaries found themselves buried in thick gorse and deep bunkers. Meanwhile, he made no mistakes on the greens, leading the field in putting while making all 14 putts inside 10 feet. He birdied No. 7, 8 and 10 to take the lead and settled in with six straight pars before a pin-seeking approach for birdie on 18.
Lowry was off to a tough start in 2024, even admitting in his win at the team-event Zurich Classic that teammate Rory McIlroy carried him at times. Since that win, Lowry has gone T6 at the PGA Championship, T19 at the U.S. Open and T9 at the Travelers.
Justin Thomas went into the clubhouse as the leader from the morning slate after a gritty 68 in tougher conditions. Thomas has struggled mightily on links courses in his career. A two-time major winner with a creative, versatile game seemingly well suited for the style, Thomas’ best Open finish was T11 2019 and his next best was T40. He’s missed three of seven Open cuts, and last year he opened with an 82 at Royal Liverpool which served as a low point.
Thursday, though, Thomas masterfully attacked greens and finished holes well. He ranked top 10 in the field in strokes gained approach while making 16-of-18 putts inside 20 feet to capitalize.
Maybe more impressively, Thomas responded when the course got the best of him. After a 4 under start through 10 with a two-shot lead, he double-bogeyed No. 12 and followed that with another bogey on 13. Royal Troon had been devouring players all day at that point, but Thomas finished the round with birdies on 17 and 18.
“I feel like everything has been turning the right way, and I’ve been working on the right things,” Thomas said. “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.”
Outside of Thomas, the Europeans played well at the most international major. In addition to Lowry and Brown’s great starts, Englishman Justin Rose shot a bogey-free 69, and 23-year-old Dane Nicolai Højgaard and Swede Alex Noren finished 2-under as well.
Right with them at 69 were Xander Schauffele — who won the PGA Championship in May — and Russell Henley looking for his first major victory.
But many of the biggest stars in the field were seemingly ejected early in the day. The top two players at the U.S. Open last month, McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau, were 7 and 5 over, respectively. McIlroy had just one birdie all day, and DeChambeau was 6 over within eight holes and needed an eagle on 16 to get as low as he did.
“It’s a completely different test,” DeChambeau said. “I didn’t get any practice in it, and I didn’t really play much in the rain. Yeah, it’s a difficult test out here. Something I’m not familiar with.”
Tiger Woods, playing all four majors in a year for the first time since 2019, started the day 1 under but quickly dropped eight shots on the next nine holes to ultimately finish 8 over. That leaves him 140th in the field. Woods, 48, hasn’t finished better than 47th in the seven majors he’s played since his 2021 car crash that severely injured his leg.
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