Talk about a bittersweet moment. On the fiery, firm links of Royal Birkdale, that looked and felt like a yellow brick road, there was a wizard of Oz at the end of it.
There was also an almighty stooshie at the end of a long day when Bryson DeChambeau, who had been one off the lead, was penalised two shots as newspaper deadlines loomed. More of that later.
This particular golfing parish is a happy hunting ground for Australian golfers. The great Peter Thomson won two of his five Claret Jugs at Birkdale back in ye day while Ian Baker-Finch was a champion here in 1991.
In 2026, it’s Lucas Herbert who’s looking for a silver lining in this neck of the woods.
The man from down under powered to the top of the leaderboard on day two of the 154th championship with a record-equalling offensive.
Strewth indeed. There was also a distinct sense of what might have been, though.
Herbert’s sparkling eight-under 62, for an eight-under aggregate and a two shot lead, matched the men’s major championship low set by Branden Grace, Shane Lowry, Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler.
Within 30 minutes of Herbert signing his card, America’s Sam Burns joined that exclusive club with a 62 of his own to vault into Open contention. The R&A recorders just about required tongs to deal with the sizzling cards.
Herbert’s outward half of just 28 blows, meanwhile, also equalled The Open’s record for a front nine. That was first achieved by Denis Durnian, a Manchester-based club pro, at Birkdale in 1983.
Durnian, who passed away last year, used to clatter balls off the deck of a Merchant Navy ship. “The good one was tied with string,” he once cheerily remarked.
Herbert’s mastery and manipulation of his own ball yesterday looked like he had it on a bit of string too as excited chatter grew that he could possibly reach the promised land of a 59. We’re a hysterical lot, aren’t we?
He was nine-under for his round through 16 holes and had a good birdie chance on 17 from 12-feet. That one stayed out, though.
Herbert needed a par on the last to break the major record. History can be a hefty burden, of course.
The weight on Herbert’s shoulders would’ve buckled the legs of Atlas and his five-footer for a groundbreaking 61 missed.
The three-time DP World Tour winner slumped over with his hands on his knees as he reacted to the one that got away. What were we saying about bittersweet again?
“I’m absolutely disappointed, and at the same time so proud to put my name on that list of guys that have shot 62 in a major championship,” said Herbert of this giddy mix of feelings.
“It’s kind of holding two emotions there at the same time. It’s a tricky one. But it’s a pretty good problem to have, to be disappointed you shot 62.”
“Obviously, I had a lot of thoughts running through my head today. One of them was one of my earliest golf memories.
“It was my dad waking me up to watch Chad Campbell in the first round of the 2009 Masters, because it looked like he had a really good chance to shoot 62 and break the record at that time.
“I thought to myself if one kid gets woken up by their parents to watch me finish this round and try to break the record, that would be so cool. It would tickle me pink.
“I hope it happened. I hope some kid's disappointed that I shot 62 and didn't hole that putt on the last. It felt like a little bit of a full-circle moment there.”
While Herbert’s record push got going early in his round, Burns made the kind of late surge that could’ve featured a sprinter’s dip for the line.
The 29-year-old birdied the 16th and 17th before holing his bunker shot on the 18th for another birdie in a finish that grandstands were invented for.
Burns, three off the pace, has posted a trio of successive top-10s in the US Open, including a second this year, but he has never finished higher than a share of 31st in the game’s oldest major on this side of the pond.
“I'm not a huge fan of links golf,” he said. He might be after this. As for equalling a major scoring record?
Well, Burns greeted the feat with a nonchalant shrug. “I didn’t know 62 was a record anyway,” he added.
Burns became a dad earlier this month and only decided to commit to the championship last Friday.
“I thought there was zero per cent chance,” said Burns of his prospects of teeing up at Birkdale.
“My agent was like, ‘I'm just going to sign you up just in case’. Then I had a bunch of conversations with my wife, and she encouraged me to come over here and play. She's just amazing, a superhero. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be here.”
DeChambeau, the double US Open, was lurking menacingly on seven-under after birdies on 17 and 18 in a late-night flourish gave him a 66. But there was huge drama to come.
After a review, the two-time US Open champion was penalised two strokes for inadvertently improving the area of his intended backswing on the fifth. It was a heated palaver.
That 66 became a 68 and he dropped three shots off the lead.
Jackson Suber, the surprise overnight leader, shares second with the 2022 Open runner-up, Cameron Young and Ryan Gerard on six-under while Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre is nicely placed on four-under in a group which includes the reigning champion, Scottie Scheffler, local hero Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm and the 2018 champion Francesco Molinari. Rory McIlroy is back on one-under.
After his round Rahm, who signed for a 67, was issued with an official warning from the R&A high heid yins after tossing a club on the 15th tee.
A seething DeChambeau, meanwhile looked like he might toss one too after the rules rumpus in the gloaming. It was quite the day.
