Despite being one of 158 players who could not catch 2024 Open Champion Xander Schauffele at Royal Troon this week, Daniel Brown has enjoyed a superb time on the west-Scotland links.
The Englishman – who played in the third tier of men’s pro golf in Europe as recently as 2021 – was among the leaders heading into round four after a blistering start to the Championship but fell away after a disappointing front nine on Sunday.
He maintained his composure to finish with a flourish, though, and ended up securing a top-10 result in his maiden Major appearance – even with a bogey on the 72nd hole.
That final slip-up was good news for Adam Scott and Matthew Jordan, too, with Brown dropping into a tie for 10th alongside the Australian and the Englishman.
Although he will not experience all the perks of winning The Open, here are all of the things Brown will gain as a result of his fantastic week.
Spot At The 153rd Open Championship
The 10th hole at Royal Portrush
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As previously mentioned, Brown finished inside the top-10 at Royal Troon, which means he has guaranteed his spot in the 2025 Open at Royal Portrush.
The R&A allows places for the leading 10 players and ties to come back for the following Championship, giving Brown a second crack at surprising a few people and winning the Claret Jug.
Brown managed scores of 65, 72, 73, and 74 in Scotland to leave him at even par for the Championship and as one of only 12 players to finish at level or better.
He admitted the thought of trying to qualify for Royal Portrush was on his mind a little bit towards the end of the back nine, with his chances of winning having long faded by then. Brown said: “Yeah, it was a little bit towards the back nine. Obviously I took myself out of it quite early. So that was playing on my mind a little bit. But still didn’t really affect me in terms of hitting shots and what have you.”
Biggest Paycheck Of His Career
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Brown is set to earn around £350,000 ($450,000) from the total Open prize money payout for his week’s work at Royal Troon – a significant increase on the circa £197,476 ($255,090) he picked up for winning the ISPS Handa World Invitational back in August 2023.
That was the Englishman’s only DP World Tour victory to date, and while it has no doubt changed his life, the payday he will experience at Royal Troon will alter his existence once more as the biggest of his career by some margin.
It will also help his teenage brother, who was his caddie this week, as Daniel mentioned in his post-round press conference on Sunday. He said: “He’s getting a nice little payday. Not to bad for a 19-year-old lad, yeah.”
World-Ranking Boost
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The 29-year-old is expected to pick up around 14 points in the Official World Golf Ranking system following his T10 result at The Open, pushing him significantly higher than where he is now – 272nd.
His best position ever was 187th, and it seems quite likely that he will surpass that mark in the coming days. Brown could even break into the world’s top-150.
Huge Number Of Race To Dubai Points
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Brown is set to find himself well inside the top-50 of the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai after a superb week at Royal Troon. He was 75th before a ball was struck on the west coast of Scotland, but that is about to change big-time.
A share of 10,000 Race to Dubai points are on offer at Major championships, and the man from Northallerton, England will be in line for a significant portion of that following the best day of his career so far.
