British Open 2024: Who is Open Championship leader Dan Brown?

This Dan Brown might like writing, too; he just hasn’t written any bestsellers … yet.

That, of course, could change come Sunday evening at Royal Troon, where Brown, a 29-year-old Englishman who plays on the DP World Tour, will look to author one of the Open Championship’s ultimate underdog stories.

Brown, who shares a name with famous novelist Dan Brown (“Da Vinci Code” and “Angel and Demons”), shot 6-under 65 Thursday to grab sole possession of the first-round lead by a shot over Shane Lowry.

While Brown isn’t ranked as low as Ben Curtis was when he captured the claret jug in 2003 as world No. 396, he isn’t far off, entering this week No. 272 in the Official World Golf Ranking. And oh, by the way, Brown isn’t even the only Daniel Brown in pro golf; there’s another Englishman born four years earlier who played a couple of EuroPro Tour events two years ago.

This Daniel Brown spent five years playing the Challenge Tour and other developmental circuits around Europe – including something called the Evolve Pro Tour, where Brown captured two titles in 2018 – before securing his DPWT card via Q-School in 2022. He then won in his rookie season on the DPWT, by five shots over Alex Fitzpatrick at the 2023 ISPS Handa World Invitational not too far from Troon, Scotland, in Galgorm, Northern Ireland. His sophomore campaign, however, hasn’t been nearly as successful. Brown missed nine weeks earlier this year after having a cyst removed from his left knee, derailing any momentum he had from a T-4 at the SDC Championship in early March. He finally snapped a string of seven straight missed weekends by making the cut at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open. But even then, he could only manage a solo 61st.

Brown, who earned his spot in this week’s Open field via final qualifying, arrived at Royal Troon listed at 500-1 odds to win. But judging by his bogey-free performance on Thursday, one that was capped by a confident short birdie make from 8 feet at the last, Brown is already defying the odds; he’s the lowest-ranked player to lead after 18 holes of a major since world No. 624 Andrew Landry did so at the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont, a year before Brown turned pro after an amateur career that included titles at the 2015 Dutch Junior and 2016 English Amateur.

Back home in Northallerton, England, and at Brown’s home club, Romanby Golf and Country Club, they are surely cheering on the Open’s latest Cinderella story.