Canadian in hunt at Open Championship, Brown surprise leader

Article content

TROON, Scotland — After teasing with summer conditions for three days of practice rounds, Royal Troon flipped the switch — and the wind direction — on Thursday and reminded the players what an Open Championship is supposed to look like.

Article content

Through 18 holes of the season’s final major, an Englishman brings a potential Cinderella story, sitting one stroke clear of a weather-tested former Open Champion atop the leaderboard.

And there’s a Canadian firmly in the hunt.

Playing in the penultimate group, World No. 272 Daniel Brown birdied the 18th hole in near-darkness at 9:40 p.m. local time to shoot a bogey-free six-under 65 and snatch the lead from 2019 Open Champion Shane Lowry.

“I was struggling to feel my legs a little bit,” Brown said of his nerves while hitting his first tee shot in a major championship. “But after that I got quite settled.”

Lowry, a burly Irishman, was also bogey-free, shooting a five-under 66.

“I’m pretty happy, but it’s only one day. We’ve got three more days,” Lowry said. “I kept telling myself that out there because for some reason I felt like the crowd were getting very excited out there.

Article content

Article content

“I just kept on telling myself there’s a lot more to do and there’s a few days left, so I just kind of stayed in my lane and hit some good shots, and I was pretty happy with how I handled myself.”

Justin Thomas played early on Thursday and shot a three-under 68 to sit in solo third place, three shots back.

Behind Thomas is Canadian Mackenzie Hughes, one of a group of eight golfers who shot a two-under 69 to be tied for fourth. The group includes major champions Justin Rose and Xander Schauffele.

Hughes leaned on the same weapon he has been leaning on since his days as a junior golfer in Dundas, Ont., rolling in putt after putt on difficult greens that confounded most of the world’s best players.

“I definitely had a nice feel with the putter,” Hughes said after his round. “The greens are a speed where you feel like you can putt them pretty aggressively. There was a couple times today I thought I hit it a little too hard and it might go three feet by (but it didn’t). I think that’s a bit of freedom there for me. It kind of freed me up from that 30-foot range. Yeah, I had a pretty good feel for the speed and had some nice looks today. It was nice to see a few go in.”

Article content

On his front nine, Hughes made a massive par-save on the 120-yard par-3 Postage Stamp eighth hole. After finding the pot bunker that guards the front right of the tiny green, the Canadian splashed it out and then rolled in a 20-footer.

“I thought my ball was going to stay up, and they were clapping, and then it just trickled off of that green into the bunker on the right,” Hughes said of the iconic hole. “I was so mad at myself because I watched guys all morning do that. I was like, I’m going to make sure I keep the ball left of the flag. It gets up there and just starts cutting on the wind. You just can’t miss that ball right.”

On his back nine, Hughes made a most unlikely birdie at the par-4 13th hole after hitting his drive into the long grass right of the fairway. On that occasion, it was a 21-foot putt that dropped. He then finished in style, capping off his day by rolling in a 12-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole; a putt that player after player had misread before him.

Article content

“I feel like I’ve been reading the greens pretty well,” he said. “I think for the most part I try to under-read them, if anything. I try not to find too much in these putts. It’s pretty often from 25 feet, it’s right edge or left edge.”

This week marks Hughes’ third trip to the Open Championship, where he finished tied for sixth in 2021, his best result at a major championship.

“I love this type of golf. I feel like it kind of throws the rule book out the window,” he said. “It’s not about playing perfect golf. It’s just about kind of managing your way around and hitting golf shots. I think that’s why I love coming over here.”

Corey Conners shot an opening round level-par 71, and Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor both shot four-over 75s.

Article content