Round one leaderboard
-6 Brown (Eng); -5 Lowry (Ire); -3 Thomas (US)
Selected: -2 Rose (Eng), Schauffele (US), Dean (Eng), Noren (Swe), Hojgaard (Den), Hughes (Can), Henley (US); -1 Wallace (Eng), Fitzpatrick (Eng), Scheffler (US); +1 MacIntyre (Sco); +2 Rahm (Spa); +5 Fleetwood (Eng), +7 McIlroy (NI); +8 Woods (US)
Unheralded Englishman Dan Brown holed a birdie putt in fading light at the last to sensationally take the lead after round one of The Open at Royal Troon.
The world number 272, playing in his first Open after only qualifying two weeks ago, nonchalantly knocked in an eight-footer at 21:35 BST to complete a stunning bogey-free six-under 65.
The 29-year-old, from North Yorkshire, is one ahead of 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry, who also posted a bogey-free round in wet and windy conditions on the Ayrshire coast.
American Justin Thomas, with seven birdies in his round of 68, is two behind Irishman Lowry.
Justin Rose, who came through qualifying, closed with 11 straight pars and is in a group of seven on two under.
The 43-year-old, who says he will “keep believing” he can win an Open, is joined on that mark by, among others, fellow Englishman Joe Dean, European Ryder Cup players Alex Noren and Nicolai Hojgaard and American Xander Schauffele.
Matt Wallace briefly led on four under after a birdie on the short eighth, but a wayward drive on the ninth led to a triple-bogey seven and he is in a group on one under with English compatriot Matt Fitzpatrick, world number one Scottie Scheffler and Australia’s Adam Scott.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, winner of last week’s Scottish Open, opened with a one-over 72, one ahead of Spain’s Jon Rahm and four better than England’s Tommy Fleetwood.
But it was a dispiriting opening for Rory McIlroy, who slumped to a seven-over 78 and is 13 shots off the lead. The world number two said it “was one of those days where I just didn’t adapt well enough to the conditions” and that his approach on Friday would be “to focus on trying to make the cut”.
That will also be the target for three-time champion Tiger Woods, who conceded he needed to “do a lot more work in the gym to progress and play more” after bogeying the last in posting a 79.