'I've got a taste for victory now' - Dan Brown eager to push on after breakthrough win on DP World Tour

The Northallerton golfer was a struggling professional back then, scraping a living on the EuroPro and other satellite tours.

By his own admission, he wasn’t working hard enough.

“I wasn’t making the sacrifices I needed to be making,” Brown tells The Yorkshire Post three years later.

“Covid really worked out for me - I was at home, you’ve got a lot of time to think, look at yourself in the mirror and ask ‘what do I want to achieve here?’

“I didn’t want to look back in six, seven years tim e and think I didn’t do enough, I should have worked harder or I’ve wasted my talent.

“I never wanted that to happen, so the last two or three years I’ve really got my head down.”

The turnaround wasn’t instant, but the renewed dedication to his craft is starting to pay dividends.

Last November he breezed through Qualifying School to finally graduate to the DP World Tour.

Last month he took advantage of the tour’s new co-sanctioning of lower-level events on the PGA Tour to play in the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky.

“That was amazing and a real buzz to go over and play in America on the PGA Tour,” says Brown, who made the trip worthwhile by finishing seventh, his third top-10 of the season.

“I was over the moon because that top-10 earned me enough points to practically secure me my card for next season, which meant for the rest of the year I could play a little more carefree.”

Which is exactly the mindset he had when he teed it up at the ISPS Handa World Invitational at County Antrim last Thursday, the 28-year-old opening with a 64 and never relinquishing the lead en route to a maiden, breakthrough win on the DP World Tour for the Romanby Golf Club member.

“It feels fantastic and is a huge weight off my mind,” says Brown who admits there were a few nerves when he went to bed on a six-shot lead over fellow Yorkshireman Alex Fitzpatrick on Saturday night.

“I didn’t get to sleep until about half one in the morning, but when I finally did I got a good chunk. Because it was quite a tough golf course I was just thinking as long as I don’t do anything stupid I’ll be okay, so I was quietly confident it would end well.

“It’s difficult when you’re on a lead, it’s hard to go low again. I felt as though I played as well Saturday as I did Thursday and Friday but just didn’t manage to pull further away.”

Brown is not a man to set himself targets - “I get sidetracked from enjoying it. If you’re in a good state of mind and enjoying playing golf results come that little bit easier.”

But the win opens doors: a two-year exemption on tour taking him up to the end of 2025; a first Rolex Series event at the tour’s flagship BMW PGA Championship in September; and the chance to play in the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai in November if he can consolidate his new position of 35th on the order of merit. The top 50 play the final event.

“I’ve got a taste for it now,” says Brown, who celebrated with a couple of gin and tonics on Sunday night before getting the ferry home on Monday morning.

“I’m going to Prague for the Czech Masters this week, I want to screw my head on for that and put in a good show there. I want to enjoy this moment, but I don’t want to enjoy it too much and take my eye off the ball.

“I want to push forward if I can.”