World News Thriller Brown aiming to crack the British Open code Blog

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Daniel Brown delivered a thrilling follow-up to his stunning first-round performance at the Open on Friday and then hoped to be mistaken for his famous namesake.

The previously unknown professional from Northallerton delivered a late-night thriller at Royal Troon on Thursday when he played a brilliant 65 (six under par) in the penultimate group of the day, securing an unexpected one-stroke lead.

The 29-year-old qualifier shot a solid 72 in his second round and was still five under par ahead of most of the field at halftime.

Since turning professional seven years ago, Brown has become accustomed to jokes comparing him to bestselling author Dan Brown, author of The Illuminati and The Da Vinci Code, but now he wants to do the opposite.

“Yeah, I've seen that a lot,” he said. “The whole Da Vinci Code and stuff like that.”

“Hopefully I can start to make a name for myself and people will ask him, 'Are you the golfer?'”

Brown has tried to take the step into the spotlight in his stride.

He said: “I've always been pretty relaxed, actually. I think I'm a bit of a realist too.”

“I know I'm not going to get too hasty and think, 'Oh my God, I'm leading the Open or I'm second in the Open or whatever.'

“There are 36 holes left. I might play a good round tomorrow and then I might play a bad round on Sunday. You just don't know.”

After leaving the course shortly after 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, he was back at the first tee at 11:04 a.m. the next morning.

Due to time constraints, he has barely had time to realise the extent of his achievement and is now hoping that a few games of table tennis will keep him grounded before the weekend.

He said: “I managed to get quite a bit of sleep, seven or eight hours. I was completely exhausted. I don't think I've finished so late in a long time.”

“Luckily there's a ping pong table in the players' lounge tonight, so we'll probably play a few rounds. A couple of my mates are here and they've got tickets to the players' lounge.

“We have a house ten minutes down the road and a few of my buddies are staying with me. They'll keep my mind off it.”

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