Lucas Herbert came tantalizingly close to a 59 before settling for the sixth round of 62 in major championship history Friday at the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England.

Playing two groups behind Herbert, Sam Burns matched the second-round 62 with a rescue from a greenside pot bunker for a birdie and his own slice of history.

At 8 under, the Australian Herbert earned a two-shot lead on Jackson Suber and Cameron Young as the morning wave wound down, while Burns moved to 5 under for the tournament.

Herbert, 30, zipped in front by birdieing six of his first nine holes and eight of the first 12. He reached 9 under at No. 16, then saved par after a wayward approach at No. 17.

At No. 18, needing par to shoot the first 61 at a men’s major, Herbert’s drive missed right but he placed his approach shot just in front of the green. He putted onto the surface for his third stroke and left himself 5 feet for par and the record — but his attempt slid left past the cup, leaving him with his only bogey of the day.

“It wasn’t my worst putt of the day,” Herbert said of the missed putt for 61.

Herbert said he felt some nerves and knew he was putting for history.

“It’s kind of odd feelings. It’s the second round of the tournament so you’re trying to push as far ahead as you can. I’m a golf geek so I knew all the records, I knew the numbers, I knew what people shot. I was very aware of that,” he said.

“I sort of … I didn’t know where to focus.

“It was kind of funny like I said walking up 18, ‘I might as well throw my phone in the bath because it’s going to be lit up this afternoon.’ So was kind of enjoying almost the peace of just being out there and playing golf before whatever this weekend throws at me.”

Burns closed Friday with three consecutive birdies and was 11 shots better in the second round than he was on his opening 18.

“I think it feels a little bit different in the sense of links golf. You don’t ever feel comfortable in links golf,” Burns said.

The last time this championship was played at Royal Birkdale in 2017, Branden Grace of South Africa shot the first 62 in major championship history. Four rounds had matched that number in recent years, twice by Xander Schauffele, before Herbert and Burns added their names name to the list.

Herbert joined LIV Golf in 2024 and notched his first win in the league this past May in Virginia. But he has not done better than T40 at a major since tying for 15th at the 2022 Open.

He started his day by rolling in three straight birdies, the first two from 16 and 14 1/2 feet away. He nearly chipped in for eagle at the short par-5 fifth and tapped in his fourth birdie.

Then came the most impressive putt of the day, a 36-footer that broke left to right, then back to the left and found a perfect line to drop in the cup.

Herbert wrapped up the sterling front nine by chipping in for birdie at No. 9, wrapping up a 6-under 28. He tied Englishman Denis Durnian (1983, also on Birkdale’s front nine) for the lowest nine-hole score in Open history.

Back-to-back birdies at Nos. 11 and 12 formally put him on 59 watch, and he holed a 7-footer at No. 16 to reach 9 under.

After a long drive at the par-5 17th, Herbert missed the green far left toward the gallery. But he hit a terrific recovery shot out of a sandy dirt lie, his ball staying on the green and curling back to 10 feet, from where he would two-putt for par.

–Field Level Media

Tickets for the 2026 World Cup final continue to rise leading up to Sunday’s match between Argentina and Spain at New York New Jersey Stadium.

After the get-in price dropped as low as $6,636 on Monday, the three-day average rebounded to $7,612 by Friday morning, according to ticket-tracking service TicketData.com. The three-day average is now up 10%.

By comparison, the get-in price for Argentina’s semifinal victory over England settled at $3,177 by kickoff, while France’s win over Spain commanded less than half that at $1,315.

The get-in price for Saturday’s third-place match between France and England in Miami is $653, having plummeted 61% over the past three days.

Sunday’s final will kick off at 3 p.m. ET in East Rutherford, N.J., between a pair of global powerhouses. It will conclude the largest World Cup in history, with the White House confirming that President Donald Trump will attend.

The get-in price for tickets to the final peaked at $13,650 back in October before dipping as low as $6,336 a month later. They had risen back to above $8,000 when the tournament began on June 11 and the get-in price reached $12,129 on June 23 before declining again.

Through 102 matches across 16 cities, the median get-in price has been $916.

–Field Level Media

Lucas Herbert leads the Open Championship halfway through the second round after tying the major championship record of 62 Friday at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England.

The Australian needed par at No. 18 to shoot the first 61 in major championship history, but his 5-foot putt to save par missed centimeters to the left of the cup.

The round brought him from even to 8-under-par 132 for the championship, two clear of Cameron Young (67) and first-round leader Jackson Suber (69).

And Herbert’s round wasn’t even the only 62 of the morning wave. Two groups behind him, Sam Burns holed out for birdie from the greenside bunker at No. 18 to cap a three-birdie finish for a bogey-free 62.

Burns shot up to 5 under for the week. South Korea’s Sungjae Im was also 5 under for the championship through the front nine. Bud Cauley (68) and England’s Matt Wallace (67) were in the clubhouse at 4-under 136.

Herbert, 30, was asked when he believed he could equal or better the record of 62.

“It’s not a great question because I’m too much of an optimist, and I thought it when I hit it to about 5 feet on the third hole,” Herbert said. “I’m a golf nerd anyway, so I know all the numbers, all the records, everything like that.”

Branden Grace of South Africa shot the first round of 62 at a major nine years ago, the last time The Open was held at Royal Birkdale. The list has since grown to seven 62s, including Herbert’s and Burns’ on Friday.

Burns’ 62 was a mirror image of Herbert’s. Whereas the Australian tied the major nine-hole scoring record with a 28 on the front nine, Burns went out in 2 under and made six birdies coming in — including a chip-in at No. 16 before the bunker holeout at No. 18.

“Yeah, it was in a good spot in the bunker, which you never know what you’re going to get in the pot bunkers here. So I was happy when I saw that when I walked up,” 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.”

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland improved on his opening 72 by five strokes, but left opportunities on the table with eight pars and one birdie on his back nine. His 67 lifted him to 1 under for the week.

Xander Schauffele rebounded from a bogey at No. 17 with a straightforward birdie at No. 18 to shoot 69 and head to the clubhouse on the current cut line at even par. The line is projected to move back by at least one shot. Schauffele’s run of 18 straight made cuts at major championships is the longest active streak.

Notables playing in the Friday afternoon wave include World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose, Spaniard Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, who briefly held a share of the lead Thursday before carding a 3-under 67.

–Field Level Media