DANIEL Brooks capped a memorable Open debut with a hole-in-one in his second round at St Andrews.

Although the ace was not enough to prevent him missing the cut, it was the first at the Open since 2011.

It was also the first in an Open at St Andrews since 1990 and just third on the old course in the past 31 years.

The 28-year-old, who qualified with a top-10 finish at last week’s Scottish Open, holed out from 166-yards – which was probably the best way to play the 11th as that was the green which caused the most problems in the high winds in Scotland.

Those winds had caused organisers to delay play for more than 10 hours.

When players returned to the course there was a log-jam at the 11th.

“We had a long wait on the tee,” Brooks, from Basildon, said.

“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: Five-iron, aimed left and the hurricane brought it back!

“I saw people’s arms go up on 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.

“It’s been a long two days. I feel like we’ve been out there weeks. I didn’t know what time it was when I finished, never mind what day it was.”

Brooks, a former pupil at Woodlands School, finished his two rounds on five-over par which was not good enough to make the cut.

He shot a four-over par 76 on the opening day. His second round was an improvement thanks to his hole-in-one and a couple of birdies, but he still finished on one-over par following a round of 73.

Brooks’ debut at the Open caps a whirlwind few weeks for the professional at Mill Hill Golf Club that also included his seventh-placed finish at the Scottish Open which was his biggest prize cheque of his career to date.

He will be looking to build on his spell in the limelight when he heads off to Switzerland later this week to compete in the European Tour’s Omega European Masters.