David "Deacon" Brown (9 May 1861 – 8 July 1936) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

professional golfer who played in the late 19th and early 20th century. He won the

1886 Open Championship The 1886 Open Championship was the 26th Open Championship, held 5 November at the Musselburgh Links, Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. David Brown won by two strokes from Willie Campbell. The contest consisted of four rounds of the nine-h ...

and finished second in the 1903 U.S. Open. In total, he had twelve top-10 finishes in major championship tournaments.

Early life and career

Brown was born on 9 May 1861 in

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; sco, Musselburrae; gd, Baile nam Feusgan) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It has a population of . History The name Musselburgh is Ol ...

, Scotland. He was a roofing slater by trade and a keen golfer. In 1886, he was working in Musselburgh when The Open Championship was about to be played. John Anderson, who was secretary of the Musselburgh Club at the time, invited him to play and provided him with a pair of striped trousers, a frock coat and a lum hat to wear. He shocked the professionals by winning the tournament by two shots from Willie Campbell, carding rounds of 38-41-37-41=157, and then turned professional himself.

Later life

Brown was hired by Hayling Island Golfing Club (now Hayling Golf Club) in early 1885 as greenkeeper following the departure of Joseph Lloyd as Professional/Greenkeeper where ''The Field'' reported in an April report of the Spring Meeting of that year that 'great satisfaction was expressed at the improvement made in the state of the green since the charge of it was undertaken by David Brown of Musselburgh'. Brown moved permanently to England to become club professional at Newbiggin by the Sea Golf Club in about 1888, and later worked at Malvern Club. He played in the Open Championship regularly and featured prominently. At the turn of the century he moved to Boston in the United States. In 1903 he tied with Willie Anderson for first place in the U.S. Open after 72 holes, but he lost the playoff. Brown enjoyed playing the stock market but lost most of his wealth during the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and returned to Musselburgh, where he died in 1936.

Death and legacy

Brown died on 8 July 1936 in Inveresk, Scotland. He is best remembered for winning the 1886 Open Championship and finishing second in the 1903 U.S. Open.

Major championships

Wins (1)

Results timeline

''Note: Brown played in only the two Opens.''
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, David Scottish male golfers Winners of men's major golf championships Golfers from Musselburgh 19th-century Scottish people 1861 births 1936 deaths