Rose shaken by hitting fan with drive at Scottish Open

Brooks is risking nosebleeds over the weekend.

Brooks started the day a shot behind Thorbjorn Olesen, but the Englishman fired a five-under-par 65 at Gullane, while the Dane slumped to a 77.

The 28-year-old won the Madeira Islands Open last season, but followed that breakthrough with 14 consecutive missed cuts before picking up another cheque. “But it only takes one good week out here and hopefully that’s what I’m about to have”. He is certainly doing that this week. Normally I make quite a lot of cuts and play pretty solid off the tee and I hit a lot of greens.

An eagle on the par-5 2nd hole, following a 5-iron to 8 feet from 225 yards, was the highlight of Brooks round.

After winning that title in sombre circumstances, Brooks missed his next 15 cuts on the circuit. There was a sombre side to the success, of course.

His round could have been even better but for bogeys on the final two holes.

Growing up and learning to play golf in Texas, he feels, helps him to deal with the shifting wind conditions that often prevail in eastern Scotland.

“With Mack (Ian MacGregor) passing away, I didn’t have time to celebrate”.

“It seems like a long time ago now”.

With France’s Raphael Jacquelin six under for his round after 13 holes, the world number 528 suddenly found himself two off the pace, but responded superbly with birdies on the fifth, eight and ninth. The explosiveness was tempered with a stream of nine straight pars but, amid this uneventful period of scoring, there was no shortage of incident.

Phil Mickelson wound up his preparations for the Open with a 68 which left him at five under.

“Rose was visibly shaken by this unfortunate, painful meeting of dimpled ba” and heid.

“You could attack the course a little bit”, said the 25-year-old, a two-times European Tour victor. “He was talking to me and that’s reassuring”. The injured party explained that he had been coming to golf for years and had never sustained a hit.

Ireland’s Shane Lowry is another player on the eight under mark after a pair of 66s. He is making his first worldwide start since a T-64 finish at the U.S. Open last month. Lowry is only focussing on getting the job done here. “It’s the biggest day of my career but I am trying not to think about it. The main priority is to keep my card because I have been struggling all year”.

On an eventful day, there were the usual tales of wildly fluctuating fortunes. He also showed he is adept over the links in a bogey-free round where he picked up four shots on the front nine, during which he chipped in from off the green on No. 6, then birdies on Nos.

In this unpredictable game, there is always an opportunity to turn things around.