Standing over a five-foot par putt on the 18th green at Royal Birkdale, Lucas Herbert wasn't just trying to protect a two-shot lead at the 154th Open Championship. He was staring down an apex that no male golfer in history had ever touched. A 61.
He missed.
The ball slid just left of the cup, a collective groan echoed through the Southport galleries, and the 30-year-old Australian was forced to settle for a two-under par total total of 132 and a second-round 62. It tied the all-time men's major championship scoring record. Yet, golf is a beautifully sick sport where you can play the round of your life, match an elite historical milestone, and still walk off the final green feeling absolutely gutted.
Then, just to prove how chaotic links golf can be, Sam Burns went out and did the exact same thing 22 minutes later.
Two identical scores. Two completely opposite experiences.
The Anxiety of Knowing You Are Chasing History
Herbert is a self-confessed golf nerd. He knows the numbers. He understands the weight of the record books, and he admitted after his round that he knew exactly where he stood from the moment he walked off the third green.
He started his morning with three consecutive birdies. When a golfer starts a major championship round birdie-birdie-birdie, something chemical changes in the brain. The targets look bigger. The putter feels lighter. Herbert kept his foot on the gas, tearing through Royal Birkdale's front nine with further birdies at the fifth, seventh, and ninth.
He went out in 28 strokes.
Think about that for a second. Twenty-eight shots on a front nine at an Open Championship. That matched the lowest nine-hole score in the tournament's history, a record set 43 years ago by Denis Durnian, who also shot a front-nine 28 right here at Birkdale back in 1983.
The difference between Herbert and most players who stumble into a historic round is that Herbert didn't ignore it. He embraced the pressure, actively tracking his score against history. He knew the magic number was 62. He knew Branden Grace had carded the first official major 62 on this exact course in 2017.
He wanted to beat it.
After rolling in a nine-footer on the 11th and a 12-foot putt on the 12th, he was eight-under for the day with six holes left to play. The scoring record wasn't just possible. It was likely. When he rolled in a clutch seven-foot birdie putt on the par-four 16th to reach nine-under par, the whispers of a 61 became a roaring reality.
Then the links fought back.
Birkdale features two back-nine par fives, the 15th and the 17th. For a player clicking like Herbert, these are mandatory birdie opportunities. Instead, he found a pot bunker on the 14th and had to scramble for par. On the 17th, his approach sailed wildly left, forcing him to hit a delicate chip just to salvage another par.
By the time he reached the 18th, the margin for error had evaporated. A poor tee shot into the right rough forced a layup short of the putting surface. His third shot, a tense pitch from 50 feet away on a baked fairway, left him with that infamous five-foot par putt.
It was a misread, plain and simple. He didn't choke the stroke, but the ball didn't care.
Sam Burns and the Accidental Masterpiece
If Herbert's round was a high-wire act tracked by everyone on the property, Sam Burns's 62 was an absolute stealth mission.
Burns didn't even know he had tied the major championship record until he walked off the 18th green and someone told him. He spent his morning operating in complete isolation from history. He was just trying to get back into the tournament after an opening-round 73.
His front nine was steady but unremarkable, turning at two-under par. Then, the American caught fire on the back side, tearing off six birdies to come home in 30 strokes.
The defining moment of his day came on the final hole. While Herbert struggled to a closing bogey, Burns executed a spectacular birdie-birdie-birdie finish. On the difficult 18th, he found himself trapped in the left pot bunker. He played a high, soft explosion shot that landed perfectly on the fringe, caught the slope, and trickled directly into the cup for the first birdie recorded on the 18th hole all day long.
He raised his arm in a calm celebration, completely unaware that his spectacular sand save had just earned him a spot on one of the most exclusive lists in professional sports.
It mimics the bizarre script of the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, where Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele shot matching 62s just two groups apart. History repeats itself in this game, often in the span of less than half an hour.
Why Royal Birkdale Keeps Yielding Historic Scores
Seven times a male golfer has shot 62 in a major championship. Three of those rounds have happened at Royal Birkdale.
- Branden Grace: 2017 Open Championship (Round 3)
- Lucas Herbert: 2026 Open Championship (Round 2)
- Sam Burns: 2026 Open Championship (Round 2)
This isn't a coincidence. Birkdale is notoriously tough when the wind howls off the Irish Sea, but when the breeze drops and the morning conditions turn benign, the course becomes vulnerable to elite ball-strikers.
Unlike courses with massive, undulating greens where defensive putting is mandatory, Birkdale's fairways mostly sit in the valleys between the dunes. If you hit the fairway, you get flat lies and clear looks at the pins. The turf is baked out and fast, allowing players to utilize the slopes to funnel balls toward the cups.
Herbert noted that the morning conditions were perfectly set up for scoring. The air was quiet, the greens were receptive enough to hold mid-irons, and the pins were accessible if you were willing to take on the bunkers.
Friday Drama Behind the Leaders
The record-tying rounds masked a massive amount of volatility across the rest of the leaderboard.
Bryson DeChambeau looked poised to sit right on Herbert's heels until a brutal post-round ruling derailed his afternoon. Standing in the high grass off the fifth hole during his round, DeChambeau inadvertently improved the path of his swing by flattening some grass behind his ball. Long after he signed for a four-under 66, rules officials reviewed the footage.
After a lengthy midnight discussion by the video boards, DeChambeau was assessed a two-stroke penalty. His 66 became a 68, dropping him from five-under par to three-under par total, three shots back of Herbert's lead.
Meanwhile, Jon Rahm narrowly avoided disaster himself, picking up an official conduct warning after throwing a club in frustration following a wild tee shot. He managed to steady the ship to shoot a 67, sitting comfortably at four-under par alongside Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood heading into the weekend.
The tournament cut fell at one-over par 141, claiming some massive casualities. World Number Three Matt Fitzpatrick failed to make the weekend after posting a four-over total, while fan favorite Justin Rose missed out by two shots after a costly opening-round 75 left him with too much ground to cover.
The Mental Shift for the Weekend
The historical dust has settled, and the reality of the tournament takes over.
Shooting a 62 is an incredible feather in the cap, but it ensures absolutely nothing on the weekend at an Open Championship. Out of the seven men who have shot 62 in a major, only Xander Schauffele at the 2024 PGA Championship actually went on to lift the trophy. The other five instances resulted in players failing to close the deal over the final 36 holes.
Herbert now transitions from chasing a number to defending a lead. He's a LIV Golf competitor who has won across five different global tours, but he has only made the cut in 10 of his previous 18 major appearances. This is uncharted territory for him on a Saturday afternoon at a major.
The strategy for the remaining field is simple: ignore the 62s. The weather forecasts for the weekend indicate the wind is coming back, and the benign morning conditions that allowed Herbert and Burns to tear the course apart will disappear. Royal Birkdale will get defensive, the fairways will feel narrower, and par will become a fantastic score once again.
Watch the early leaderboard on Saturday. If the wind picks up, the players sitting at three and four-under par like DeChambeau, Scheffler, and Rahm are well within striking distance. Herbert has the historic round, but the Claret Jug remains completely up for grabs. Use the leaderboard movements over the first six holes of the third round to gauge whether the course is playing standard or vicious. That will dictate how aggressive the chasing pack can afford to be.
