Outsider Dan Brown gives himself every chance of bringing home Open bacon

There are only eighteen holes left between Dan Brown and one of the greatest sporting surprises of our time.

Before a ball was teed off at Royal Troon, little was known to anyone outside the golf anorak contingent about the 750-1 outsider. No wonder; Brown arrived in Ayrshire as the 272nd-ranked player in the world. His last eight results included one withdrawal, six missed cuts and a tie for 61st. How could anyone have known that this bearded, cigarette-smoking son of a Yorkshire pig farmer would come within one Open round of taking home the bacon? There are shades of Todd Hamilton, who won at Troon in 2004. Hamilton, unlike Brown, had played in at least a handful of majors before arriving at the oldest of them all. Brown should have been thoroughly uncomfortable in this environment. Instead, he has embraced it like a pig in …

While Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Bryson DeChambeau, Ludvig Åberg and Tommy Fleetwood all left the field after 36 holes, Brown continued to write the archetypal underdog story. His smooth, rhythmic swing held up through a brutal closing stretch until the final hole, when a tugged iron slammed into the sand for a double bogey. Billy Horschel, one point ahead at four under par, led the way.

Brown’s 65 to start the tournament was treated with disdain in certain quarters (including perhaps this one). The prevailing view was that the 29-year-old would quickly fade into obscurity as big names vied for the Claret Jug. The slums of Chicago are full of individuals who have led major championships after 18 holes. At the turn of day three, Brown was back on top of the leaderboard. At this point – in weather conditions that would have made Mr Brown Snr unwilling to walk his animals – he had Shane Lowry and a ferocious Horschel for company. History has been kind to the likes of Horschel and Brown; five of the previous six Troon Opens have been claimed by players who had not yet held a major. Horschel, a Floridian, astonishingly donned his shirt sleeves for one of the bleakest days of the summer. Round three was all about mental fortitude. By the end, Brown, because of that late deviation, was one of a sextet on three under.

There were dramatic moments amid the torrential rain. Brown’s miscued tee shot on the seventh hole nearly eliminated world number one Scottie Scheffler, who was a hole ahead. The Yorkshireman recovered and made birdie. Brown and Lowry both found a bunker on the green at the Postage Stamp. Lowry, who had been ahead by three holes after just one, slipped to a double bogey. Brown’s four meant he was tied for the top spot. Lowry never recovered properly and played his last 11 holes in seven overs. It was an irregular 77, meaning Lowry is three holes behind Horschel.

Lowry had made a huge breakthrough on the 11th after his drawn second shot caught a member of the crowd on the leg and bounced into a favourable position. Without it, the 2019 champion’s ball would have been heading for a gorse bush. Lowry was still unable to save par. The three-way tie was up. Within an hour, the catch rate had dropped from eight under par to minus five. Brown made it six with a delightfully easy birdie on the 12th. Lowry made another error there, meaning Horschel was the man closest to the leader. Horschel bogeyed the 18th to drop to four under, but his 69 was still enough to take the lead after 54 holes after Brown had shipped three strokes in his last two holes.

A decade ago, Brown tweeted that he could “happily retire from golf tomorrow.” He was reportedly applying for jobs at supermarkets around the same time. And there he was, braving the elements and some of the best golfers on the planet. Talk about making a silk purse out of a pig’s ear. The galleries here, so grateful for what Brown produces, have their unlikely hero. Notably, Brown’s solo victory on the DP World Tour, by five strokes in Northern Ireland last year, came in the most appalling circumstances.

Justin Thomas had reached two under par before the dreadful weather hit after lunch. Thomas lost two strokes on the last six holes, but he is certainly not without hope for Sunday. “It’s a crazy sport and a lot of things can happen in a lot of conditions,” said Thomas, whose second round was a 78. “But that’s what I signed up for, I guess.”

Thriston Lawrence, Sam Burns and Russell Henley benefited even more from a morning tee time. The trio were three under par and still firmly in the mix before so many golfers returned. Justin Rose later hit the air after saving par on the final hole to equal that total with a combative 73. Xander Schauffele’s 69 means the American PGA champion is also minus three. Scheffler is a stroke further behind after a 71. At plus two, Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa are far from out of this championship. Kim Si-woo is out, but celebrated a hole-in-one on the 17th. All eyes, however, are on Brown. Can he keep up his fairytale challenge? Pigs could fly.