Dan Brown insisted winning the Open continued to sound “unfathomable”, despite heading into the final round of his major debut just a shot off the lead.
The world number 272, who had to come through qualifying to secure his place at Royal Troon, defied miserable conditions and his lowly status to remain firmly in contention for an extraordinary win.
“I’ve not really come here with any expectations and I know what this game is like,” said the 29-year-old from Northallerton, who finished 61st in the Scottish Open last week after six missed cuts and a withdrawal in his previous seven starts.
“You’ve still got one round to go and I’m not going to get ahead of myself and start thinking about outcomes.
“It’s not really fathomable (to win) but we will see. I’m not thinking about it, I’m just going to go out and do my job and hope it is good enough.”
Brown held a one-shot lead before running up an unfortunate double bogey on the 18th, where his drive finished on the edge of a fairway bunker, just as his opening shot of the day had on the first.
“That finish is why it’s a little bit deflating as I’ve ground it out today and through not hitting a bad golf shot I’ve dropped three,” Brown added.
“It’s a bit frustrating but at the start of the week if you’d told me I’d be one or two back going into the final round of the Open I’d have snapped your hand off.”
Brown will partner world number one Scottie Scheffler in the last round as he bids to become the first English winner of the Open since Sir Nick Faldo in 1992, a goal shared by former world number one Justin Rose.
Rose battled to a third round of 73 to share second place behind American Billy Horschel alongside Brown, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Sam Burns and Thriston Lawrence.
“It would be a great moment for me,” Rose said when asked about the prospect of winning a second major title.
“The tournament has teased me ever since (his debut), but it’s given me great memories. To go into Sunday being right there around the lead gives me a good chance.
“It turned into an absolute survival test out there. I think I did a good job of surviving. All in all I’m delighted to look at that leaderboard and say I’m one back.
“I think that par putt on 18 has put me in a really great spot mentally. I feel like I’ve got nothing to lose. I feel like I’m right there within touching distance tomorrow.
“Those are days that I dream about. Those are days I’ve been working hard for. Those are days I’ve still been believing that I can have. The key tomorrow is to do my best to make the most of it.”
Published: by Radio NewsHub
