For 43 years, nobody had gone out in fewer than 28 shots at an Open Championship. On Friday at Royal Birkdale, Lucas Herbert opened his second round at the 154th Open with birdies on his first three holes, added more at the 5th, 7th and 9th, and turned in 6-under 28 — tying the joint-lowest nine holes in Open history, a mark Denis Durnian set in 1983 on the same course.
Then it got bigger. Birdies at 11, 12 and 16 put the Australian on the edge of something no man has ever done in a major: shoot 61. He left himself five feet for par at the last. The putt slid by. The “consolation” was a 62 that equalled Branden Grace’s record for the lowest round in men’s major championship history — also shot at Birkdale, in 2017 — and a two-shot lead at nine-under.
Twenty-two minutes later, Sam Burns matched him. The American closed birdie-birdie-birdie, holing out from a greenside bunker on the 18th, to card a second 62 on the same par-70 links in the same morning. A score that had been posted four times in roughly 160 years of men’s major golf happened twice before some of the field had teed off. First-round leader Jackson Suber sits second at six-under, with Sungjae Im and Daniel Brown a shot further back and Burns lurking at five-under. Defending Champion Golfer Scottie Scheffler went out in Friday’s late wave.
Our take: Records don’t fall evenly — they fall in clusters, because the ceiling is partly a belief. Before Roger Bannister’s four-minute mile, it was “impossible”; 46 days after he ran it, John Landy ran faster. Herbert didn’t just shoot a number Friday — he showed everyone on the property what Birkdale was offering, and Burns collected 22 minutes later. The lesson travels: when someone in your field does the “impossible,” the real news isn’t their talent, it’s the updated map of what’s available. Move fast while the window’s open — conditions this good never last the weekend.
What to watch
- Can Herbert close? A two-shot lead through 36 holes is a platform, not a trophy — and he’s chasing his first major against a leaderboard full of players who’ve won them.
- The weather. Birkdale yielded two record rounds in one morning. If wind arrives for the weekend, the scoring window slams shut and this becomes a survival test instead.
- The 61 chase. Six men have now shot 62 in a men’s major. The barrier everyone knows is breakable tends to break — watch how aggressively the chasers play Saturday.