Friday at The Open started as a normal second round and ended as a history lesson. Lucas Herbert went out in a major-record-tying 6-under 28 on the front nine at Royal Birkdale, then kept going, birdie after birdie, until he was staring down a putt that would've made him the first man ever to shoot 61 in a men's major championship.
LUCAS HERBERT FRONT NINE 28 Lowest 9 holes in Open HISTORY & the solo lead!
He didn't stop there. Herbert ran off birdies on 11 and 12 to reach 8-under, then stuffed an approach to 7 feet on 16 to get to 9-under with two to play. The pace was absurd — 7 birdies in an 11-hole stretch at one point, the kind of round that makes a Friday afternoon leaderboard feel unreal.
ANOTHER ONE. LUCAS HERBERT 9-UNDER. 2 TO PLAY.
Then came the anticlimax. Herbert missed a 5-footer on 18 that would've given him a 61 outright and instead settled for a 62 — still tying the record for lowest round in men's major championship history, a mark South Africa's Branden Grace set at this same Royal Birkdale in the 2017 Open. Painful for him, historic for everyone watching.
LUCAS HERBERT TIES THE RECORD FOR LOWEST ROUND IN MEN’S MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY 🤯 MISSED A 5-FOOTER ON 18 FOR THE 61… PAIN!!!
The wild part is Herbert didn't even have the record to himself for long. Sam Burns caught fire later in the day and matched him shot for shot, capping his own 62 by holing out from a greenside bunker on 18 for birdie — the second player to tie the men's major scoring record on the same afternoon. Two guys shooting the lowest round in major championship history hours apart on the same golf course is the kind of thing that just doesn't happen.
SAM BURNS BUNKER HOLE OUT FOR BIRD TO MATCH LUCAS HERBERT’S 62!!!!! SECOND PLAYER TO TIE THE MEN’S MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD TODAY
It wasn't just a two-man show. Collin Morikawa rolled in a birdie to join the leaders at -3 early in the round, Cameron Young quietly strung together back-to-back 67s to sit just 2 back heading into the weekend, and Rory McIlroy kept flirting with drama by driving the green at the par-4 9th for the second straight day, this time leaving himself 12 feet for eagle. Meanwhile Matt Fitzpatrick had a moment of pure golf chaos when his own ball found him in the bunker, and Nick Faldo kept needling Bryson DeChambeau's course-management approach on links golf — a running subplot USA Network's 12 hours of coverage had plenty of time to dig into.
Sir Nick Faldo responds to Bryson’s “strategy” response. Thoughts on this? ⤵️
Herbert takes a 1-shot cushion over Burns and a handful of shots on everyone else into the weekend, but Royal Birkdale just proved it can be had when the wind lays down. With Young, Morikawa and a stacked leaderboard lurking within a few shots, Saturday at The Open has a real shot at delivering another chapter of the scoring record chase — or a total leaderboard reshuffle if the wind comes back.