You couldn’t help but hear the whispers at Royal Troon, they were in the wind amidst all the breakers, warbles, claps and craws. “Jon Rahm birdied the first three holes!” the one guy who had reception on his phone said to the two on either side of him as he moved his thumb across the scoreboard.
“How’s Rosey?” his buddy asked. “He’s just getting started.” The other interrupted him. “Here comes Scottie Scheffler now.” He paused. “Who’s that with him?” The three squinted at the man walking down the fairway. Blue sweater, blue pants, white cap. No one spoke.
“Who’s that?” is a question a lot of people have been asking about Dan Brown lately. Four days ago, you’d have had to pay pretty close attention to the outer reaches of the DP World Tour to know much about him. Brown, a 29-year-old journeyman from Northallerton, was ranked No. 272 in the world before the Open and had missed the cut in six of his last eight tournaments. But it’s been a long week on the links and a lot has changed. Brown himself said he would have been thrilled if you’d told him on Monday he’d be tied for 10th.
But after moving into first place with 20 holes to go, he found himself disappointed to finish there, nine strokes behind winner Xander Schauffele. “It’s a little bit,” he paused, searching for the words. “I wanted to do better and be higher on the board.”
Even Brown seemed a little surprised by how well he played this week. He said it helped that he’s gotten used to failing on the DP World Tour, so he doesn’t fear it anymore. “I think a lot of people probably thought I was going to be shaking this morning and really nervous, but I’m totally fine,” he said Saturday night. “I didn’t know myself, I didn’t know last night if I was going to wake up this morning nervous, sweaty, whatever, but I think I felt good.”
His own mother booked a hotel here just for the first night of the championship. She’s superstitious and didn’t want to bet on him making it through the weekend. That was a shame. She would have had a fair shot, since he was 750-1 to win the thing.
Everyone kept waiting for the moment when Brown would look down and see that the ground beneath his feet had disappeared because he had run so far over the cliff. But that moment never came. You wondered if it would happen on Saturday night, when he lost three strokes playing the last two holes, and you wondered again on Sunday morning, when he was seventh on the leaderboard going into the final round, partnered by Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 golfer in the world. Scheffler is an inch taller, $69 million richer and 271 spots higher in the rankings. But Brown took it all in his slow, steady stride, stopping only occasionally for a quick drag on a cigarette.
He said he was a bit tossed by the wind, which had changed on the front nine. He lost a stroke on the first hole when he missed a putt from 10ft after playing out of a greenside bunker. And he had a bad run of back-to-back bogeys on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes. But he made birdies on the second and seventh holes, which meant he retained his position on the top page of the leaderboard. Scheffler passed him on the way. The American moved up to third place by reaching four under par after eight holes. But he made a double-bogey six by making three putts on the ninth hole, and there was no turning back.
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Brown covered the back nine, as tough a stretch as any in major golf, in level par, a stroke better than Scheffler. The gap between the two wasn’t as big as you might think. When you climb as high as the hundreds in the rankings, the margins get pretty small.
Brown is set to take three weeks off, and one can only hope that he can finally enjoy what he achieved this week at Royal Troon. He did it in circumstances that have broken some of the best golfers in the game. He has also almost earned more money in these four rounds (€291,576/£245,580) than he did in the first four years of his professional career, and has earned a substantial sum for his 19-year-old brother Ben, who has been caddying for him. For a man who once had to borrow money from his grandmother to travel to a tournament in Switzerland, it is a life-changing sum. And more importantly, he has also secured himself an exemption for the 153rd Open at Royal Portrush.
So Cinderella didn’t get to marry the prince. But at least she can treat herself to a new pair of shoes and come back next year for another try.