Lucas Herbert grabbed hold of a two-shot lead after an action-packed second round at The 154th Open Championship, which saw two players equal major history and Bryson DeChambeau being involved in a controversial rules decision.
DeChambeau had his strategy of playing the majors questioned before he arrived at Royal Birkdale after missing the cut at the Masters, The PGA Championship and the US Open, with the two-time major champion responding by following an opening-round 67 with a four-under 66.
It took the American to seven under par, and within a shot of Herbert, who equalled the lowest round in men’s major history despite bogeying the final hole of an eight-under 62, only for a lengthy rules review seeing DeChambeau handed a two-shot penalty for inadvertently improving his lie at the fifth hole after he hit his ball into deep rough off the tee.
In a statement, R&A Referee Grant Moir said: “Bryson has been penalised two strokes for inadvertently improving the area of his intended backswing on the fifth hole when he was playing his second shot. Rule 8.1 restricts what a player may do to improve any of the protected conditions affecting the stroke, and this includes the area of the player’s 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. I’ll stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson’s case.”
Following the rules officials’ decision, DeChambeau’s initial bogey on the hole was turned into a triple-bogey seven, which dropped him to a two-under 68, leaving him tied-fifth heading into the weekend.
While there were initial rumours that the American was threatening to quit the tournament, he later took to social media to vent his frustration but commit to trying to win his first Claret Jug. “Obviously disappointed with the ruling. I don’t agree with it, but it is what it is. This fires me up. Onto the weekend. Let’s get it”, he wrote on X.
Back to the action, Herbert will start the third round with a two-shot lead over Jackson Suber, Cameron Young and Ryan Gerard. Sam Burns, starting the second day on +3, incredibly matched the Australian’s 62 to sit on -5, a place he shares with DeChambeau and Si Woo Kim.
A star-studded leaderboard sees Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Bob MacIntyre, Matt Wallace, Francesco Molinari, Thomas Detry, Bud Cauley and Alex Fitzpatrick all within four of the lead on -4, while Rory McIlroy sits seven behind after adding a three-under 67 to his opening 72.
Herbert and Burns match major history
Six birdies in the first nine holes saw Herbert reach the turn in 28 and equal the lowest front-nine in major history, with back-to-back birdies from the 11th and another at the 16th taking him to nine under and put more records under threat.
The 30-year-old Australian, who plays on the LIV Golf circuit, failed to take advantage of the par-five 17th despite finding the fairway off the tee, going way left with his approach and missing a 10-foot birdie putt, then failed to convert a four-foot par putt at the last to become the first male to shoot lower than 62 in major championship history.
“It was very cool to experience that, and the nerves coming down the stretch,” Herbert said. “I felt the energy, everyone wanted it to happen and I felt like I kind of let everyone down, as everyone wanted to be part of watching that.”
Herbert’s round was just the sixth 62 in men’s major history, but it was matched less than 30 minutes later by Burns, who finished his round with three consecutive birdies – including holing out from a greenside bunker at the par-four last – to also get to eight under.
“Coming into the day I thought that If I could get it to red numbers for the tournament, that would be a pretty good spot,” Burns said. “I think the finish there the last three holes was just a bonus.”
Overnight leader Jackson Suber added a one-under 69 to ensure a Saturday pairing with Herbert, while Cam Young and Ryan Gerard carded matching 67s to also get to six under ahead of Burns and DeChambeau.
Rory McIlroy mixed four birdies with a single bogey in an improved second-round 67, including him driving the par-four ninth green for the second successive day, with home favourite Fleetwood on the same score after birdieing three of his last five holes.
Just nine shots separates all 78 players who made the cut mark at +1 or better, with PGA champion Aaron Rai (+2), US Open winner Wyndham Clark (+3), Justin Rose (+3), Matt Fitzpatrick (+4) and 2017 champion Jordan Spieth (+10) among those 78 players who made an early exit.
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