Daniel Brown revealed how the recent loss of a close friend put the relative pressure of trying to win a golf tournament into perspective after landing his second DP World Tour title at the BMW International Open on Sunday.
His closest rival was fellow Englishman, Jordan Smith who signed for a final-round 67 to end on 20-under. For Smith, it marked his second consecutive runner-up finish at the event on the outskirts of Munich following a silver medal behind Ewen Ferguson 12 months ago.
The sting of disappointment for Smith was eased by delight for his buddy, Brown, though, who had only learned of the heart-breaking news days before the tournament began.
Reacting to his second DP World Tour success, two years on from a maiden victory at the ISPS Handa World Invitational, Brown was understandably emotional and admitted he was thinking of his friend for most of the weekend.
He said: "It means a lot. The first one didn't really sink in, but that one hit me straight away. I lost a friend at home last weekend... I don't know what to say really. It was for him.
"The last two days, I kept thinking about him to try and take my mind off [the tournament] but then also try not to get too emotional in the process.
"I'm not too sure what happened today, really. All day it was like an out-of-body experience. Obviously there's the nerves and then thinking about the importance of winning a golf tournament, like it sort of played it down a little bit with what's happened.
"I suppose he was there with me and it made it a little bit easier."
"He was there with me and it made it a little bit easier" Dan Brown lost a close friend last weekend and battled emotions all week to claim his second DP World Tour title 💙#BMWInternationalOpen pic.twitter.com/ADXGDxD5irJuly 6, 2025
Brown's extremely meaningful achievement began with consecutive birdies at the first two holes before he followed that up with two more gains at the fifth and sixth holes, making the turn in just 32 strokes.
Yet, with Smith tracking him step for step, the man who led The Open after round one last year remained under intense pressure prior to a slip-up from his playing partner early into the back nine.
A birdie at 12 - combined with consecutive bogeys for Smith at 13 and 14 - opened up a more comfortable gap to second for Brown, and he took advantage by ticking off the holes with relative ease.
However, a third birdie of the week on 15 for Smith cut the gap to two strokes, and it could have been less if the 32-year-old's putting had been slightly better down the stretch.
As it was, a pair of birdies between the two friends at the last was a fitting end to what had been an excellent display of golf by the duo, and the gap remained two strokes until the end.
Jordan Smith (left) pushed Brown all the way at the BMW International Open
Brown and Smith will now head over to the United Kingdom for the Genesis Scottish Open next week prior to The Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland immediately after.
Wrapping up the top-five in Germany was New Zealand's Kazuma Kobori in solo third on 18-under, just in front of the Netherlands' Joost Luiten, USA's Davis Bryant and Norway's Kristoffer Reitan on 16-under.
As well as a strong finish in Munich, Reitan backed up strong form in recent weeks to steal ahead of France's Martin Couvra and win the DP World Tour's European Swing - landing him a $200,000 bonus.
France's Frederic Lacroix, England's Laurie Canter, Germany's Matti Schmid and Italy's Francesco Laporta completed the top-10 on 15-under-par.
BMW International Open Leaderboard
- -22 Daniel Brown (66)
- -20 Jordan Smith (67)
- -18 Kazuma Kobori (63)
- -16 Kristoffer Reitan (68)
- -16 Joost Luiten (69)
- -16 Davis Bryant (68)
- -15 Frederic Lacroix (67)
- -15 Laurie Canter (67)
- -15 Matti Schmid (67)
- -15 Francesco Laporta (65)
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