CALLUM TARREN is the joint-leader of the US Open at Brookline after carding a three-under-par opening round of 67.

But who is the 32-year-old Darlington golfer - and how has come to be playing professionally in the United States?


* Born and raised in Darlington, Tarren took up golf as a young child and began playing the sport at Dinsdale Spa.

Speaking to The Northern Echo in an interview a couple of years ago, he said: "I started playing at Dinsdale Spa. It was through one of my best school friends because his mam worked at the bar, so she took us to junior coaching with Martyn Stubbings. I stuck with it after that from the age of 11."


* Tarren attended Darlington's Eastbourne Comprehensive and Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form, but decided that rather than sticking with academia, he wanted to try to make it as a professional golfer.

He started his professional golf career as one of two North-Easterners on the PGA China Tour, along with Teesside's Michael Skelton. His performances in China earned him a place on the Web.com tour, the feeder circuit for the PGA Tour.

"China was full of special memories, we had some problems travelling, cancelled flights, nightmares, that’s what comes with the job," said Tarren. "The biggest thing that stands out was that we went to the Great Wall in Beijing, that was an incredible attraction. We got a cable car up, a bobsleigh down on a metal track. It was fun."


* Having moved to the US to compete on the web.com tour, which is now know as the Korn Ferry,  Tarren, who was also a talented footballer as a youngster, quickly began to move up the rankings.

He secured his PGA Tour card last season thanks to a tied-fourth finish at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, a finish strong enough to secure one of the 25 PGA Tour cards given out in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals.

"My goal as soon as I got on to the Korn Ferry Tour was to make the PGA Tour, and now the goal is obviously to stay on the PGA Tour,” said Tarren at the time.

“All the guys on Korn Ferry Tour are awesome, all the staff, the volunteers, it’s unbelievable. The tournaments you guys put on are just incredible, but everyone wants to play on the PGA Tour, and that’s where we’re heading.”


* Today's round at Brookline is Tarren's best performance in a Major by some distance.

Having started his round on the tenth hole, the North-Easterner actually began with a bogey.

Eight successive pars meant he reached the turn in one over, and while he birdied his tenth hole, another bogey on the following hole meant he slipped back to one over.

He got back to level par with a birdie three on his 14th, and picked up another shot with a three on his 16th.

Things got even better on the par five eighth - his 17th hole - as he played a brilliant approach shot from 200 yards before rolling in an eagle three.

A par on the last meant he finished with a 67, and he is currently in a tie for the tournament lead with Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy and Swede David Lingmerth.