Lucas Herbert’s brilliance opens up two shot lead at Royal Birkdale
Herbert acknowledges the crowd after his brilliant round of 62 – image R&A via Getty Images
Lucas Herbert might have missed out on an opportunity to break a record held for as long as major golf championships have been played, but he is very much aware of what he achieved with his round of 62 on day two of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale and the place he has in golf’s history, irrespective of his agonising bogey at the 18th today.
“That’s a really cool list to be a part of. Even that whole back nine today, it was not lost on me the amount of history in major championships, and the opportunity I had to break the record obviously, but then to tie it as well is still something I’m really proud of.”
When asked when it had first come to mind that something special was in store today and whether his nerves had been impacted by what was developing, Herbert suggested it was as early as his 3rd hole when he created a great opportunity to record a third consecutive birdie to start his round.
“It’s not a great question because I’m too much of an optimist, and I thought it when I hit it to about five feet on the 3rd hole. I’m a golf nerd anyway, so I know all the numbers, all the records, everything like that.
“I don’t play a schedule that is four majors a year consistently anyway, so the opportunities I do get to play majors, and you get an opportunity to get off to a hot start on a golf course that’s a par 70 — not that I wanted the thoughts to come into my head, but it was honestly when it came in.
“So it was a bit of fun for the rest of the day just trying to acknowledge the fact that there was a chance but just to try to continue to go about what I was doing normally and naturally as best I could.
“I mean, the first 12 holes, I might not play 12 better holes in my life. I was 8-under through 12, and you could make a very good argument that I could have been a couple better as well.
“I was very aware that that was not going to last forever, and it’s not like the golf course got harder. I just kind of played a bit more normally.
“Then you look at the last five or six holes, I mean, I wasn’t far away from missing that bunker on 14, and I’m a mile down there. I didn’t think it got harder towards the end of the round. I knew the record was there. The record is always going to be there, whether it’s 62, whether it goes to 61 or 60.
“My job was to execute the best I could do and then enjoy this moment here of talking to you guys about that. So I just kind of wanted to get really caught up in that at the time.
“I thought I did a really good job of it. There’s no swings I want back coming back down the stretch. Even the shot into 17, it was just poor execution. I thought I did a good job of doing what I thought I needed to do. It was a tough shot. You’ve kind of got to keep it down the left-hand side with the wind hitting you pretty hard off the left.
“Yeah, I don’t want that one back. I’d love it again, but I don’t regret the way I played that shot, I guess. I can at least sit here and go — and tell you guys that I did the best I could to shoot the best round I could, and I have no regrets.
“I’m absolutely disappointed, and at the same time, so proud of today. 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 was referring to a missed opportunity at the 17th when, after one of his outrageously long drives, he pulled his approach to the par 5 and missed an opportunity for the one birdie he needed to get to 10 under and perhaps secure the record. He then bogeyed the last, but he walked from the course in the early afternoon two ahead of the opening round leader, Jackson Suber, who had himself done a fine job of defending his lead.
Later in the day, American Sam Burns would equal Herbert’s heroics but he did so courtesy of a dramatic holed bunker shot for birdie at the last. So the anticipation which had been building for so long during Herbert’s round was not the case for Burns, but he, too, now holds the joint 18-hole major record with Herbert, Branden Grace, Xander Schauffele (2) Rickie Fowler and Shane Lowry.
The rounds of Burns and Herbert were four shots better than any other recorded on day two.
Finishing early in the afternoon, Herbert needed to wait until around 8.30pm to see if his two-shot lead would hold up and it would do so, Suber joined late in the day by Cameron Young and Ryan Gerard in a share of second place and two behind Herbert.
Herbert will play with Suber on day three, but with 51 players under par and the possibilities Royal Birkdale has displayed in terms of scoring on the opening two days, all those under par will feel they have a chance of closing in on Herbert’s lead tomorrow, Herbert under the spotlight as he attempts to become the third Australian to win the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
Herbert’s outward nine of 28 surpassed the performance of one of his fellow countrymen to win the title at Royal Birkdale, Ian Baker Finch, who, during his victory in 1991, reached the turn in 29. Herbert not only equaled the 18-hole title, but he now shares the lowest nine-hole score in major championship history with Denis Durnain, who also had 28 at Royal Birkdale in 1983.
Cameron John gets his Open Championship debut underway on Thursday – image R&A via Getty Images
Of the other Australasians in the field, Open Championship debutante Cameron John followed up his impressive opening round of 70 with a 3-under 67 to be at 3 under and in a share of 17th place.
John, who was one of the stars of the summer of golf in Australasia and whose wife is at Royal Birkdale despite being 30 weeks pregnant, played his opening nine in 31 before an even par closing nine of 36 for his 3 under total.
When asked what had pleased him the most, John replied, “Playing the weekend. I just enjoy competitive golf, and the fact I get to play two more days in a situation like this, it’s impossible not to have a good time out there. It doesn’t matter how you score at the end of the day. Like, even the guys I played with were all smiling all day.
It made it easy for me, and I hope they had a good time too because it’s a pretty special moment when you get to play a major.
“I saw Herby, and I was cheering him on. Obviously, I knew where he was at. Anytime you have a chance to break the low round in a major, that’s pretty cool. To have him tied at that point — we played a practice round earlier in the week, and we were both going good.
“It was kind of a little bit of stay out of our own way, and Cam Smith kind of told me that as well. It was nice to play with a couple of those guys and just get some words of advice. I’m very proud to be a Commonwealth member, and hopefully they’re very happy with that performance.”
Adam Scott recovered from a slow start with a round of 66 to be at 2 under, Kazuma Kobori is at 1 under, Ryan Fox at even par and Min Woo Lee holed a twenty-foot birdie putt at the last to survive the 1 over par cut.
Cam Smith missed out on a weekend game when he raced to the turn in 31 but played the back nine 2 over, a double bogey at the 15th proving very costly.
