SOUTHPORT, MERSEYSIDE, ENGLAND – For the second time in as many Open Championships, Royal Birkdale has surrendered the lowest score ever posted over a single round in a men's major championship -- twice, actually.
Australia’s Lucas Herbert posted 62 to finish the first two rounds at 8-under 132 after an opening 70. Then just three groups later, young American star and new dad Sam Burns followed with another 62, this time of the bogey-free variety, to trail by three strokes at 5-under 135.
The story of the morning was Herbert and what might have been. After tying the major championship nine-hole record with a ridiculous looking score of 28 -- also set at Birkdale -- Herbert birdied 11, 12, and 16 to get to 9 under for the day. But a disappointing par at the par-5 17th and a frustrating bogey at the 18th derailed his chance at breaking the all-time 18-hole major championship record and owning it all to himself.
Still, despite equaling one of golf’s most sacred records, some omens are ominous. Herbert failed to birdie either of the easy back nine par 5s. And then with all the pressure, Herbert blocked his tee shot on 18 into the rough near metal railings containing the fans. He looked nervous on the tee and took an eon to finally pull the club back.
It was his most uncertain swing of the day, flared right into the rough, just missing clearing the metal barriers and carrying into the crowd -- or worse, out of bounds. He got a free drop and played an excellent recovery to the front apron of the putting surface, about 50 feet from the pin, but his putt from off the green came up short and he missed the 5-footer for par, a bogey-free round and, more importantly, sole possession of the record. He knew it, too. The look of anguish on his face as his par bid went begging was not normal for someone who just fired a 62.
Shockingly -- perhaps charmingly -- Herbert started thinking about the record in the middle of his third hole of the day.
“I'm too much of an optimist, and I thought about it when I hit it to about five feet on the 3rd hole,” he said. “I'm a golf nerd anyway, so I know all the numbers, all the records, everything like that."
The LIV Golf winner this season indicated that he was itching to take advantage of a rare chance.
"I don't play a schedule that is four majors a year consistently anyway, so the opportunities I do get to play majors, and you get an opportunity to get off to a hot start on a golf course that's a par 70 -- not that I wanted the thoughts to come into my head, but it was honestly when it came in," he said. "So, it was a bit of fun for the rest of the day just trying to acknowledge the fact that there was a chance but just to try to continue to go about what I was doing normally and naturally as best I could.”
Herbert hit only 8 of 14 fairways but 13 of 18 greens. His putting was stellar, rolling in 30-foot bombs across both the seventh and ninth greens. He’s had zero 3-putts this far, and he ranks seventh in the field in strokes gained putting.
Despite the bid at 61, Herbert was phlegmatic about his round.
“My job was to execute the best I could do and then enjoy this moment here of talking to you guys about that. I just kind of wanted to get really caught up in that at the time,” he said.
“I thought I did a really good job of it. There's no swings I want back coming back down the stretch. Even the shot into 17, it was just poor execution. I thought I did a good job of doing what I thought I needed to do...I don't regret the way I played [any] shot, I guess. I can at least sit here and go -- and tell you guys that I did the best I could to shoot the best round I could, and I have no regrets."
Sam Burns also fired a 62, moving from being in danger of missing the 1-over cut after an opening 73. He birdied Nos. 2, 4 and 10 to reach even par for the tournament, then birdied 11 and 13 before finishing the day with three consecutive birdies to close.
“I caught myself by surprise," Burns said. "I thought coming into the day if I could get it to red numbers for the golf tournament, that would be a pretty good spot. I think the finish there the last three holes was just a bonus."
Yet unlike Herbert, Burns had no idea at all about the record. It didn’t cross his mind until R&A officials congratulated him.
“I had no idea until they told me up there. I didn't realize that was the case. Yeah, I'm very pleased with it,” he said.
He was, instead, busy paying attention to Herbert.
“I noticed on 17 he was 9 under, and I was like, goodness, that's pretty impressive.”
There is a truism in golf: Beware the joyous father! From the pro ranks to the Sunday round with your lunkhead buddies, a guy who just had a baby is totally relaxed. True to form, Burns thanked his wife, who not only just had a baby, but cleared him to take off for England and play when he thought it was out of the question.
“I thought there was zero percent chance," Burns said. "Brett, my agent was like, I'm just going to sign you up just in case, but I was like, you can, but I'm probably not going to be able to play. Then we ended up having her [the baby] on the 3rd. Even then, I still wasn't expecting to play by any means.
"Had a bunch of conversations with my wife, and she encouraged me to come over here and play, and here we are. She's just amazing, a superhero. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be here."
Perhaps it was arriving in a fog of fatherhood that made him play more natural golf.
"I didn't get here until midday on Monday," Burns said. "Just trying to get my feet under me for the first couple days. I don't know if there's lower expectations, but I think as a competitor, you still expect a lot out of yourself. But definitely tried to be a little more patient with myself for sure.”
There were five previous 62s in men's major championships. First, Branden Grace here at Birkdale in the 2017 Open Championship. Then in 2023, within minutes of each other, Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele fired 62s at the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles. Finally at the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club, Schauffele shot 62 again, along with Shane Lowry.
