THE 154TH OPEN

July 17, 2026

Daniel Brown

Mixed Zone

Q. After 17 and 18, are you disappointed, pleased to get back in there? How do you reflect on it?

DANIEL BROWN: I feel like on the whole I maybe deserve to be one or two better. But yeah, I certainly didn't feel as comfortable and as confident as what I did yesterday out on the golf course. Average, probably maybe slightly above average, but pretty average day all around, really.

Q. It's going to be five off, I think. How do you see yourself going for the weekend?

DANIEL BROWN: To be honest, I think most of the guys that have made the cut are still right in it with a good one tomorrow. Hopefully I can replicate Thursday's round and get back in the mix.

Q. Yesterday you said you estimated about seven or eight cigarettes on the way around. I was following you most of the front nine; I counted five on the front and then one on the last --

DANIEL BROWN: Maybe nine or ten today. There's a lot of stress out there.

Q. I saw on the first, one was lit before you'd even walked off the 1st. That kind of day, was it?

DANIEL BROWN: Yeah. Yeah.

Q. The fans love it and love you, and every time -- I was following you and you were walking down and you get so much love from the crowd and stuff. Do you feel that?

DANIEL BROWN: Yeah, I think there's probably a few fans that probably don't like the smoking, but yeah, on the whole, people seem to love it, don't they. Strange, really. I think it's not very common, is it, nowadays. I think 20, 30, 40 years ago it was a really common thing. But it's died out of the game.

Q. Arnold Palmer, John Daly, Charley Hull, she'd have people ask her to sign their own cigarettes. Have you had that yet?

DANIEL BROWN: Yeah, I signed a cigarette packet today, yeah.

Q. Was that a first?

DANIEL BROWN: No, surprisingly. It's happened a few times.

Q. I saw a video, Troon maybe, of people bumming ones off you. Have you had that today?

DANIEL BROWN: No, there's a few that asked, but I needed them.

Q. What are they? What are you smoking?

DANIEL BROWN: Marlboros.

Q. A tricky day, but how do you reflect on the first two days?

DANIEL BROWN: I think overall very positive. I've kind of come into this feeling good about my game, but the results just haven't been there. I haven't holed enough putts, and that was kind of the story again today. Didn't really hole much. But I felt really good with the putter yesterday, so I'll do probably 15, 20 minutes on the putting green afterwards and see if I can find something again and get the ball to go on the ground.

Q. Obviously 7, wasn't it, where you had a bit of a --

DANIEL BROWN: Yeah, to be honest, I don't want to kind of slake the golf course, but the new greens -- it's quite distinct what the new greens are and what the old greens are. I kind of saw a little imperfection in the green that wasn't a spot I couldn't tap it down. It was just basically the green laid pretty poorly.

Yeah, if I aimed right of it, I would have missed right. I had to kind of go over it from three, three and a half feet, and unfortunately it just hit it and shoot left.

Q. Just one on the round if you don't mind. Thoughts on the round?

DANIEL BROWN: Yeah, bogeying the last is obviously a bit -- was a bit sour, but on the whole I don't think I had my best stuff today, so I don't think 1-under is too bad of a score out there. I'll try and be positive, but the game felt distinctly average today.

Q. Do you have any words of encouragement for Fifa having played with him two days in conditions he's not used to?

DANIEL BROWN: Yeah, I don't know how old he is but he's a really good little player, and I think he's obviously not used to the conditions we're playing in this week. But yeah, I'm pretty positive he's going to be a good player in the future.