Daniel Brown was lucky to avoid hitting Scottie Scheffler on the head with a wayward tee shot on day three of The Open. Brown has been the surprise package of this year’s tournament but had a moment to forget when he got it all wrong from the tee on the seventh hole.
The 29-year-old, who is playing in his first major tournament, wildly sliced his effort to the right before letting out a shout of fore. It came scarily close to hitting Scheffler and his playing partner Dean Burmester, who were getting ready to putt on the adjacent eighth green.
The ball ended up bouncing in the middle of the green, narrowly missing the head of Scheffler who could have done nothing to avoid being hit. Burmester was also spared by Brown’s wild tee shot, which came to a halt on the edge of the eighth fairway next to the rough.
Sky Sports commentator Ewen Murray was left shocked by just how close Scheffler came to being hit, saying: “Oh, there’s the eighth green! Wow, coming through. I never saw that play and neither did the guys on the eighth! That’s one way to take out the world No 1, on the back of his head. Jeepers. He air-mailed the green.”
Brown emerged as one of the most unlikely contenders in Open history when he made a flying start to lead the field at the end of day one. He finished his opening round on six under par and remains in with a chance of lifting the Claret Jug in what would certainly be a significant shock.
He will be hoping to pull ahead of Shane Lowry before the close of play on Sunday with the likes of Scheffler, Billy Horschel and Xander Schauffele not too far behind.
Elsewhere at The Open, Si Woo Kim hit the first ace of this year’s tournament with a brilliant tee shot on the 17th hole. He left fans delighted with a hole-in-one from 238 yards, with the ball bouncing just outside the green before rolling safely into the cup.
The Korean hopeful chose not to follow the tradition of buying everybody a drink in the clubhouse, instead promising to treat his team to a celebratory meal in the form of fish and chips.
