Who is Daniel Brown? Meet the golfer who is No. 1 in the British Open rankings on his major tournament debut

The results of the first day of the British Open are in and an unknown name sits at the top of the leaderboard. Meet Daniel Brown, who is making his major tournament debut.

A member of the European Tour, also known as the DP World Tour, Brown has failed to qualify in six of his last eight tournaments. But that didn’t stop him from shooting a bogey-free 65 in the first round of The Open Championship to take a one-shot lead at Royal Troon.

In his third PGA Tour appearance, and after a 61st-place finish at the Scottish Open, Brown took the golf world by surprise. Whether he will continue to play at that level on day two remains to be seen, but at least for now, he can rest easy at the top of the leaderboard.

The Sporting News tells you everything you need to know about the English golfer.

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Who is Daniel Brown?

Brown is a DP World Tour golfer from Northallerton, England. He is ranked 272nd in the world, but that doesn’t stop him from creating what could become one of the greatest underdog stories in the sport.

The 29-year-old began his professional career in 2017 and has played on both the DP Tour and its developmental counterpart, the Challenge Tour, as well as other lower-tier competitions. This is Brown’s second year on the DP Tour, but he is playing above his experience level in his first major appearance.

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Nickname of Daniel Brown

Although Brown is making a name for himself at the 2024 Open, his name is pretty common. So common, in fact, that he shares it with Dan Brown, the author of “The Da Vinci Code.” So the announcers made jokes about the famous book during the British Open conference call, and it turned into a nickname for the English golfer.

It may be known as “The Da Vinci Code” for now, but if it can hold on to the top spot, Brown could rival his author twin for global domination of the Dan Brown title.

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Daniel Brown’s Golf Timeline

Here’s everything you need to know about Brown’s professional career, as of 2017.

2017

Brown reached the final stage of the European Tour Qualifying School, an annual golf tournament that allows professional golfers to compete for a spot on the DP Tour and Challenge Tour. He finished with a bid for the Challenge Tour for the following year.

2018

After earning a spot on the Challenge Tour, Brown played in 13 tournaments but made only two cuts. He finished in 142nd place. He also played on another lower-tier tour, the Evolve Pro Tour, and won two titles.

2019-2021

For the next three years, Brown played on the PGA EuroPro Tour, a third-tier circuit recognized by the DP Tour. In 2021, he finished fourth on the final Order of Merit, which allowed him to skip the European Tour Qualifying School and automatically qualify for the Challenge Tour once again.

2022

In his second Challenge Tour appearance, Brown finished 30th, which did not qualify him for direct promotion to the DP Tour. His best finish of the year was a runner-up finish at the Hopps Open de Provence in October 2022.

In November, Brown again competed in the European Tour qualifying school, but this time he finished third to earn a spot on the official DP Tour for 2023.

2023

In August 2023, Brown won his first DP Tour event, the ISPS Handa World Invitational in Northern Ireland. However, he finished 50th in the season after competing in 28 tournaments.

2024

Because he won a DP Tour event in 2023, Brown earned an exemption from relegation to the Challenger Tour and retained his membership in the elite squad for the following season.

Ranked 75th on Tour ahead of the British Open, Brown qualified for his first major tournament via the Final Qualifier, which saw the tournament offer 16 places via 36 holes at four different venues across the UK.

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British Open Standings

The 2024 British Open welcomes 157 golfers from around the world, but not all of them will make it through the first two days of play. Only the top 70 players, plus ties, will advance to Friday’s second round.

After the first round, 81 players were in the starting lineup. Tiger Woods (+8) and Rory McIlroy (+7) were not in position to advance to the next round. Here are the top 10 golfers after the first day of the British Open:

Rank	Golfer	Country	Score after the first round
1	Daniel Brown	England	-6
2	Shane Lowry	Ireland	-5
3	Justin Thomas	UNITED STATES	-3
T4	Alex Noren	Sweden	-2
T4	Nicolai Hojgaard	Denmark	-2
T4	Justin Rose	England	-2
T4	Russell Henley	UNITED STATES	-2
T4	Xander Schauffele	UNITED STATES	-2
T4	Mackenzie Hughes	Canada	-2
T4	Joe Dean	England	-2