Brooks bags Open hole-in-one

Englishman Daniel Brooks missed the halfway cut in the 2015 Open, but at least he can take the memory of a hole-in-one away from his Open debut

England’s Daniel Brooks, who challenged in the Scottish Open at Gullane two weeks ago, found a brief moment of glory on Saturday when he shot a hole-in-one at the Open.

Brooks, 28, struck his ace at the 174-yard, par-three 11^th hole on the Old Course at St Andrews during the delayed second round, to record the first hole-in-one at the Open since 2012. And how did Brooks prepare for his perfect shot? By taking a nap by the tee.

“We had a long wait on the tee,” said Brooks. “There were three or four games ahead of us, so I had a lie down for a good half hour, got up and hit the shot, and it was a nice one. It was a five iron aimed left, and the hurricane brought it back.”

His ball bounced on the front of the green and wind-assisted, raced into the hole, although Brooks could not see the ball drop.

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“I saw people’s arms go up by the green, so I stuck mine up in the air too. I’ve had one in a pro-am before, but this one I’ll always remember.”

Brooks qualified for St Andrews by finishing tied for seventh in last week’s Scottish Open, although scores of 76-73 meant he missed the cut by five on his majors debut.

“It’s been a long two days,” he said, although strictly speaking the first two rounds ran into three days. “I feel like we’ve been out there for weeks. I don’t know what time it is, never mind what day it is.”

Robin Barwick travelled to The Open with Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz is Proud Patron and Official Car of The Open.