Round 2 of The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale turned into one of those days golf Twitter dreams about. History got tied twice, a hometown kid got a hero's ovation, and just when it looked like the story of the day was set, the R&A blew it all up with a two-shot penalty that reshuffled the top of the leaderboard.
It started with Lucas Herbert going nuclear. The Aussie tied the record for lowest round in men's major championship history, ripping off nine birdies and getting to 9-under with two holes to play before a closing bogey settled him for a 62, missing an even more absurd 61 by a 5-footer that stayed out on 18.
Herbert pumping his fist on the green as he climbed to 9-under with the leaderboard flashing his name at the top.
That round is legit historic — Herbert became just the fifth man ever to shoot 62 in a major, and his opening 28 tied the lowest front nine in Open history, a mark that had stood at Royal Birkdale for over 40 years. And then, less than an hour later, Sam Burns matched him.
Burns holing out from the bunker to close his own 62 and tie Herbert's tournament-tying number.
Two guys shooting the joint-lowest round in major history on the same afternoon, at the same course, is the kind of thing that should've dominated the headlines all day. Cameron Young backed up his own 67 to sit near the top, Bobby MacIntyre eagled his way into a share of 4th, and Tommy Fleetwood turned Birkdale into a home game, with the galleries treating every putt like a title clincher.
The Birkdale crowd packed onto a grandstand, cheering on hometown favorite Tommy Fleetwood as he worked down the fairway.
Then Bryson DeChambeau happened. He birdied 18 to card what looked like a solo 2nd, one shot back heading into the weekend — a huge response after a round that included a lengthy standoff with rules officials on the 5th hole, where he was seen taking practice swings and pacing near his ball in the rough before eventually chopping it out.
DeChambeau and a fellow competitor going back and forth with rules officials over his lie in the rough on the 5th.
The R&A confirmed it a couple hours after his round ended: a two-shot penalty for improving his lie, with rules chief Grant Moir stating DeChambeau had "inadvertently improved the area of his intended backswing" on the par-4 5th. That turned his 4-under 66 into a 68 and his 18th-hole bogey into a triple, dropping him from solo 2nd at 7-under all the way to a tie for 5th at 5-under. Frankie Borrelli caught the fallout live, watching Bryson's animated reaction to the whole saga in real time.
Frankie Borrelli reacting to Bryson's visibly heated response as the rules dispute played out on broadcast.
Bryson having a full blown temper tantrum right now is incredible TV. So many hand motions.
It's a brutal swing for a guy who's made a career out of overengineering every lie and angle on a golf course, now getting nuked by a rules technicality on the biggest stage there is. Jon Rahm added his own theater to the day with a one-handed club toss that drew only a warning, not a penalty, keeping the drama quota maxed out. With Herbert still up top, Burns and Young lurking, and Bryson now needing a big weekend just to climb back into the picture, Round 3 at Birkdale has a real shot at topping what just happened.