Dan Brown smoked seven or eight cigarettes during his round on the first day of the Open at Royal Birkdale, as the scorched conditions prompted fire risk warnings. The 31-year-old son of a pig farmer carded an excellent 66, placing him in a share of the lead until Jackson Suber’s late run to five under par.
Fire Risk and Smoking on the Course
The scorched conditions at Royal Birkdale mean spectators are asked to “maintain vigilance” over anything that could constitute a fire risk. Players are under the same instructions. Brown, however, has not been told to stop smoking. “I’ve not been told otherwise,” he said. “But I’ve been making sure that they are [put] out [when finished].” He added: “Hopefully I can do it for the rest of the week. There might be a big drop-off [in golf standard] by Sunday if I’m not allowed to. Stress levels go up, then the more I end up having.”
Background and Previous Open Performance
Brown shot to prominence during a terrific run at the 2024 Open, where he tied 10th at Royal Troon. He has 10 tattoos, which he described as “all quite small ones.” “The first one I got was probably only three years ago so I’ve gone a bit mad really. I don’t really want any more,” he said.
Lessons from 2024 and Hopes for This Week
Asked what he learned from 2024, Brown said: “Basically just the fact that I feel like I can compete in a major and in an Open Championship. 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.” He added: “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.”
Brown’s smoking habit is a throwback to players like Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer, who enjoyed a puff mid-round. His father used to smoke; Brown told him to stop as a child, then later started himself.
