After winning the
Northern Ireland Amateur Championship in 2008 and 2009, Brown received a tour card for the
2009–10 snooker season but lasted only one season on the tour. As an occasional wild card entrant to ranking events, he enjoyed some notable victories, such as defeating
John Higgins 4–3 in the
2012 Scottish Open. In 2016, he competed in the inaugural
Northern Ireland Open, where he defeated world number 26
Ben Woollaston 4–2 in the first round before losing to
Kyren Wilson in the second round by the same scoreline. Brown entered the
2018 Q School in a bid to rejoin the professional tour. Although he lost to
Jak Jones in the final round of the first event, he secured his place at the second event after beating
Andy Hicks and
Jamie Cope. In the
2020 World Snooker Championship qualifiers, he defeated
Rory McLeod,
Hossein Vafaei and
Ryan Day to reach the
Crucible for the first time. His debut ended with a 6–10 first-round loss to
Mark Selby. In January 2021, he reached the quarter-final of the
German Masters but lost 1–5 to
Barry Hawkins. At the
Welsh Open in February 2021, he defeated Selby 5–4 in the quarter-final,
Stephen Maguire 6–1 in the semi-final and
Ronnie O'Sullivan 9–8 in the final to capture his maiden
ranking title, winning a prize of £70,000. Ranked 81st in the world before the tournament, Brown became the lowest-ranked player to win a ranking event since world number 93
Dave Harold won the
Asian Open in
1993. He also became the fourth Northern Irish player to claim a ranking title, after
Alex Higgins,
Dennis Taylor and
Mark Allen. ==Personal life==