The history-makers don’t always anticipate what comes their way, as a fascinating second round of this 154th Open Championship on a famed links demonstrated. Lucas Herbert, a self-confessed golf nerd, knew exactly where he stood when standing over a seven-footer for par on the 18th hole with the potential to shoot the lowest score in any Major championship, while Sam Burns was oblivious to what his audacious finish was creating.
When Herbert missed that putt, though, it meant his 62 was only good enough to join those players who’d previously managed such a feat – Branden Grace, Xander Schauffele (twice), Rickie Fowler, Shane Lowry – and, as rare as the deed has proven through time, Burns’ holed-out birdie from a bunker on the 18th meant he too, within 15 minutes of the Aussie, remarkably added his name to the list of those shooting the lowest score in a Major.
Herbert’s 62 for eight-under-par 132 enabled him to assume the 36-hole lead on a day of thrills and spills, two shots clear of Americans Jackson Suber, Cameron Young and Ryan Gerard.
Except, Bryson DeChambeau thought his closing birdie had brought him to one shot behind Herbert. It had, but then it hadn’t as the American – the man with B.A.D. on his scorecard holder in his back pocket – was carted back to the fifth hole to explain a potential rules violation where it was deemed he had breached a rule for improving his lie in stamping down fescue grass before playing his second shot. He was given a two-stroke penalty, his 66 changed to a 68.
RM Block
DeChambeau – who’d argued his case before the sanction – didn’t stop to talk afterwards, walking by the assembled media. “Are you having a good night?” he asked, before then heading to the driving range to hit a few balls.
The player’s agent Brett Falkoff subsequently explained, “Bryson was informed after his round [of the penalty], told he improved his swing path, that he was not careful enough in a sensitive area.” He described it as a subjective decision and that Bryson was not given the benefit of the doubt.
When asked if DeChambeau would play in the third round, he responded: “Your guess is as good as mine.”
The R&A’s director of governance Grant Moir explained the ruling: “Bryson has been penalised two strokes for inadvertently improving the area of his intended swing. An improvement means to alter one or more of the conditions affecting the stroke so that the player gains a potential advantage for the stroke. Now, I’ll stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson’s case.”
A long, drawn out day brought continuous drama from start to finish featuring a cast of characters who played their parts, some walking into the spotlight and others departing stage left.
And as those with eyes on the Claret Jug, headed by Herbert, his wraparound Oakley sunglasses matching his lilac shirt in playing the role of the coolest of all, did what was required on the scorched links to move towards their desired destination, others saw their hopes disappear.
Among those who failed to make the cut – which fell on one-over par – included Matt Fitzpatrick, US Open champion Wyndham Clark, US PGA champion Aaron Rai, Justin Rose, Jordan Spieth, Viktor Hovland and the Hojgaard twins, Rasmus and Nicolai.
Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion and world number one, endured a thoroughly frustrating day with the putter in hand – he ranked 146th of 156 in strokes gained putting – yet remained bogey-free in posting a 68 for 136, four adrift of Herbert and, you’d think, just requiring a hotter putter over the weekend to give his quest to go back-to-back a realistic chance.
The stress of it all was conveyed in the actions of Jon Rahm, who tossed a club after a poor tee shot on the 15th. He was issued a warning, but no penalty shots, for his actions under the R&A’s code of conduct policy. The Spaniard nevertheless managed to carve out a 67 for 136, to be inside the top-10 and a calmer demeanour could yet see him make a genuine challenge.
Others, among them Lowry, have more ground to make up but the Offalyman – who added a 68 to his opening 69 for a halfway mark of three-under par 137 in tied-17th – looked so in control of his game through his second round that there was a glass half-full outlook as he contemplated the weekend ahead.
And, cast in the role of pursuer, with bodies to jump and shots to make up, Lowry set sights on the biggest prize rather than simply looking to move up the order of merit or whatever subplots are at play.
As Lowry, a determination on his face, put it, “Why would I come here if I didn’t want to win? Who cares about where I finish in the FedExCup, or when I’m 75 years of age and I’m sitting there, you’re not going to say, ‘oh, in 2026, you finished 25th in the FedExCup; well done’. I’m here to win the tournament. I’m here to compete at this level, and I’m here to put myself into contention.
“I feel like I’ve done that somewhat. I’m quite a few back, but I feel like I’m in a good position heading into the weekend ... the way I’m playing, all I need is just a run. If I get my run, I feel like I’ll be dangerous this weekend. I really do feel like if I get a run of rolling a few putts in a row, I can do well this weekend.
“It’s just a strange old game we play, isn’t it? The last few months have been probably, you would say, a bit of a speed bump in my career where your career is full of ups and downs. This is obviously on the way down, but hopefully it will hit straight back up this weekend.”
Herbert, a winner of the Irish Open at Mount Juliet in 2021 but who these days plays with Rippers on LIV, had a chance to shoot the lowest round in a Major, but his putt for a 61 slid by the hole.
“I can at least sleep easy tonight knowing I didn’t hit a bad putt, I just misread it. It’s pretty tough when you’ve got to putt for the Major championship record to get everything to work and to get everything to sync perfectly still and straight,” explained the 30-year-old Australian.
In contrast, Burns – who had been undecided about playing in the Open at all after the recent birth of his daughter – admitted to being totally unaware of his place in joining those who shared the low round of 62s in the Majors. Still, from contemplating an early flight home to reunite with his days old daughter, Burns’s 62 for 135 had him contemplating a breakthrough Major title just a month after being eclipsed by Clark at the US Open.
