Dan Brown shot a 66 at Royal Birkdale on Thursday to launch a strong challenge for the Claret Jug at The Open, finishing one shot behind leader Jackson Suber of the United States.
The Englishman, who finished 10th at The Open in 2024, played the parched links in Southport while smoking almost half a pack of cigarettes. Asked how many he had smoked, Brown said "sorry mum" before adding: "Seven or eight."
Spectators at golf's oldest major have been warned against anything that might pose a fire hazard on the scorched course. Brown said he had not been told he could not smoke.
"I've not been told otherwise," Brown said. "But I've been making sure that they are put out. Hopefully I can do it for the rest of the week. There might be a big drop-off by Sunday if I'm not allowed to. Stress levels go up, then the more I end up having."
A family history with smoking
Brown, the son of a Yorkshire pig farmer, said his father used to smoke. "My dad actually used to smoke. I always told him when I was a kid to stop smoking. Then he did stop and then I ended up starting," he said.
Building on his 2024 form
Brown first drew wide attention at Troon in 2024, when he led The Open before finishing 10th amid a wave of Da Vinci Code puns tied to his name. The world No 136 said he has carried lessons from that performance into this week at Birkdale.
"I feel like I can compete in a major and in an Open Championship," Brown said. "I feel like I'm a better player now to what I was back then, two years ago. So we will see. Obviously it's only Thursday, but hopefully I'm in a sort of similar area on the leaderboard come Sunday."
Brown also pointed to an improvement in his putting after a lean run. "That was a very nice day. Tee to green, it's similar to how I've been playing recently. But today a few putts dropped, which was nice to see because I've not seen that for a while," he said.
