SOUTHPORT, England -- Lucas Herbert and Sam Burns each matched the major championship scoring record of 62 on Friday in the Open Championship.
Herbert missed a 5-foot par putt on the tough 18th hole at Royal Birkdale that would have given the Australian the record alone. Two groups later, Burns capped off an astonishing birdie-birdie-birdie finish for the American by holing out from a greenside bunker on the 18th for his 62 on the par-70 Royal Birkdale links.
"I'm absolutely disappointed, and at the same time, so proud of today," Herbert said. "[I'm] very, very proud to put my name on that list of guys that have shot 62 in a major championship. So it's kind of holding two emotions there at the same time. It's a tricky one, and I'm sure once the dust settles, I'll be able to sort of decompress it a little bit.
"Right now, I've sort of got both going on, and it's a pretty good problem to have too, to be disappointed you shot 62."
Herbert, who is ranked 97th in the world, was 9 under heading into the par-4 18th, which is playing as the most difficult hole on the course. Herbert made things even harder when he badly sliced his drive into the native area on the right.
Herbert's ball ended up under a security railing and he was given relief. His approach from 173 yards stopped about 15 feet below the green, leaving him an up and down to make history. Herbert putted from off the green to 5 feet, but then missed the par putt and made his only bogey of the round.
"The putt on the last, I thought it was kind of the left side of the hole," Herbert said. "I thought the wind was off the left a little as well which might push it. It just kind of jagged a little left early on me early and never came back. I didn't hit a bad putt. I can at least sleep easy tonight knowing I didn't hit a bad putt, I just misread it."
The 30-year-old also ran into trouble on the par-5 17th when he pulled his approach from 202 yards to the left. His ball stopped in the native area between the grandstands. Herbert chipped over a mound to 10 feet and two-putted from there to save par.
Herbert has a 2-stroke lead over Jackson Suber, who carded a 1-under 69 to get to 6 under after 36 holes, and Cameron Young, who had a second straight 67.
Burns is tied for fourth at 5 under; he was 3 over entering the second round.
"I caught myself by surprise," Burns said. "Yeah, I honestly feel like I played a pretty solid round of golf yesterday and then just a terrible finish there on 16, 17, 18. I thought coming into the day if I could get it to red numbers for the golf tournament, that would be a pretty good spot. I think the finish there the last three holes was just a bonus."
Burns capped off the round by holing out from a cavernous greenside bunker on the 18th.
"It's a hard hole," Burns said. "It was a tricky bunker shot because I had to land it in the fringe there and use the slope down to the hole. Definitely very lucky for it to go in."
Burns wasn't even sure he was going to play in The Open until Friday after his daughter, Belle, was born on July 3. His agent, Brett Falkoff, entered him into the field just in case, and Burns arrived in England on Monday.
Five other golfers have recorded a 62 in a major, most recently Xander Schauffele and Shane Lowry in the first and third rounds, respectively, in the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.
South Africa's Branden Grace was the first golfer to make a 62 in the third round of the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
Playing in fast and dry conditions with absolutely no wind, Herbert had birdies on each of his first three holes and Nos. 5, 7 and 9 to make the turn at 6-under 28, equaling the record for the lowest nine-hole score at The Open.
On the back nine, Herbert had back-to-back birdies on Nos. 11 and 12 to get to 8 under. After three straight pars, he hit his approach on the par-4 16th to 7 feet and made another birdie putt to get to 9 under.
Herbert is a member of the LIV Golf League's all-Australian Ripper GC team. On May 10, he was a wire-to-wire winner in the LIV Golf tournament at Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Virginia.
Herbert won the 2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship and was a three-time winner on the DP World Tour before joining the LIV Golf League.