The Open: Sheffield amateur Barclay Brown proves he has leading man potential

Barclay Brown epitomised the exuberance of youth as he shook off early nerves to calmly negotiate his way around St Andrews in 68 blows.

For a brief moment his four-under-par score made him the leader in the clubhouse, and even if only six players out of the 156-man field had finished by that stage, it is still either a memory for him to take away from this week or a platform to build on.

Either way, the name Brown (a) never left the leaderboard for the entirety of day one, not when it was passed by Cameron Young’s 64, or Rory McIlroy’s 66, or even briefly by Ernie Els who was rolling back the years.

Brown, the Hallamshire amateur and Stanford student in America who qualified for his debut Open at Hollinwell earlier this month, was later joined on four under by Lee Westwood and Viktor Hovland, the old and the new of European golf, and rare company indeed.

“It was very enjoyable,” was Brown’s understated assessment of the first of what will surely be many major championship rounds. “It was nice to keep it relatively stress-free. I’m very pleased with myself.”

Brown, wearing the bucket hat that sets him apart from the prototypical golfer, parred the first six holes before birdieing seven and nine. When he dropped a shot at the 10th he shook it off quickly, responding with birdies on 12, 14 and at the road hole 17th as he came back into the heart of St Andrews town.

“Yeah, that was enjoyable,” he said of the three on 17. “That was a nice moment. The grandstand was full.”

Tucked in behind Brown on three under par is another of the four players from Sheffield, Danny Willett.

It may only be six years since his major breakthrough at Augusta but with exemptions expiring and his form patchy, this is only his second major appearance of the year.

Yet Willett has plenty of positive vibes to draw on at St Andrews, a winner here as recently as last October in the Alfred Dunhill Links and tied-sixth the last time the Open was played at the Old Course in 2015.

“I played with Zach (Johnson – eventual winner) in the final round,” said Willett. “I remember giving him a nice read on 18 and him rolling it in. I missed mine and he rolled his in. That ultimately got him into the play-off.

“I love the history of the course, it’s just good fun. You can just cleverly golf your ball around this place. You can hit certain shots that you wouldn’t ordinarily hit. You’re trying to use the wind to soften the flight. You’re not just standing there hitting the same shot time and time again.”

Joining Willett in posting a 69 was John Parry of Harrogate, a player who has flitted between the minor circuits since falling off the European Tour in 2017.

His girlfriend is coming up to support him over the weekend.

“Hopefully she doesn’t end up going shopping round St Andrews town,” he laughed, with his 3.54pm tee-time on Friday likely to mean a race against the cut.

Parry was determined to enjoy the moment and he had plenty of time to do so, his round lasting exactly six hours due to the bottle necks the double greens cause.

“It’s a bit more business like on the tournament days but I made sure I managed to soak up as much as I could on the practice days,” added Parry, for a whom a tap-in birdie on 17 was a highlight.

Sam Bairstow, the 23-year-old left-handed amateur from Hallowes Golf Club in Sheffield signed for a level-par 72 and hopes to make the most of softer conditions in the second group out on Friday. “I played well, it was just a couple of bad decisions, but to be three over after 12 and get back to level par, I’m happy with that,” he said.

Howley Hall’s Marcus Armitage is one shot better off after a 71 while Matt Fitzpatrick, the US Open champion, shot a steady 72 while his playing partner Tiger Woods struggled alongside him.