Mark Brown’s Open dream has ended for 2009 with a 6-over par 76 in windy conditions at Turnberry to miss the cut by three shots. Brown played as well as possible in the windy conditions but it was his putter that let him down with several missed from short distance. Brown started positively with a birdie on the first then chances on two, three, four and five but with nothing going in the hole. The seventh through eleventh were battered by the ferocious winds meaning scrambling was the best anyone could do and Mark made a succession of bogeys before the bleeding stopped on fourteen. Mark hit into the bunker on fifteen at 6-over par with some birdie-able holes to play and hit his bunker shot close but failed to sink the par-saving short putt for a costly bogey. The difficult 16th was played well and again the putting escaped him as he should have made birdie and again on 17. A safe par on 18 concluded the week for Brown. In some ways there was a lot of promise shown after his recent poor form but the frustration was increased knowing how close he came to playing the weekend of the Open. Mark will now have three weeks off before the KLM Open in Holland starting the 20th of August.

One year on from being first reserve, Mark Brown has started in the Open Championship and shot a very respectable 1-over par 71. It was one of those rare days of late that the score could have been a lot better. Luck was not with Brown’s putter, though he has shown clear improvement in this area. After a shaky start saw him in a pot bunker on the left of the fairway on the left, he made bogey and it looked like it could be a long day when he found the left hand rough on the third for another bogey. However, it seemed to settle him down and he created birdie chance after chance, converting on the par five seventh and lipping out on twelve. He stayed patient and made birdies on 15 and 17 before a bogey blip on the last. Brown is encouraged by his improved ball striking and his stats showed he hit 11 of 15 fairways. He will tee off tomorrow at 3:04pm (2:04am NZT). Click here for full scores.

Mark Brown will tee off in his first Open Championship this week, the 138th Open Championship at the Ailsa Course, Turnberry. There wil be no repeat of last year’s first reserve heartbreak as Mark tees off at 9:53am with Johan Edfors of Sweden and Briny Baird from the United States. The course is looking spectacular, reminiscent of the Paraparaumu links course where Mark played so much golf as an amateur and the weather so far has been breezy but fine. The hype is noticeable everywhere with signs all over the adjacent towns welcoming golf enthusiasts from around the UK and the world, including a significant New Zealand contingent of players and fans. Mark will be joined by Josh Geary, David Smail and Michael Campbell all pursuing the claret jug. Don’t forget you can follow Mark’s week on twitter.com, Mark’s twitter ID is @markbrowngolf.

Mark Brown has added another “MC” to his year’s results with a disastrous 8-over par 79 in the second round of the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond. Teeing off in brilliant sunshine with no wind the conditions were ripe for scoring. Brown has been struggling with his driving though and it really showed as he teed off the tenth, slicing the ball right to make bogey. Things steadied for a while with a birdie chance on eleven but generally he made hard work of the round. Two balls in the loch, one against a tree and into a plastic chair (that was the same hole, the ninth and last) later, the week was over for Brown who really needs to take stock of his game and utilise his time off after the Open to try and salvage his year. Click here for full scores, if you really want to.