Lucas Herbert Fires Full-Circle 62 at 2026 Open Championship

In 2009, Lucas Herbert’s father woke him up in the middle of the night. There was nothing wrong. But 10,000 miles away, literally on the other side of the globe, golfer Chad Campbell had reached 9 under in the first round of the Masters. He had two holes to play. One more birdie and he would shoot the lowest round in the history of major championships. Lyndon Herbert wanted his teenage son, a genuine golf junkie, to witness history. They were glued to their television in Australia.

It wasn’t meant to be. Campbell ended up bogeying 17 and 18, finishing with a 65.

The major championship record of 63 stood for another eight years until Branden Grace shot 62 in the third round of the Open at Royal Birkdale in 2017. But Herbert didn’t really think about Grace as he was playing the back nine on Friday at the 2026 Open Championship. It was his father’s gesture that he kept thinking about, even as he stared down a putt on the 18th hole for a 61.

“It felt like a little bit of a full-circle moment there,” Herbert said.

Herbert’s par putt drifted just a hair. His only bogey of the day. As such, he had to wrestle with the most unlikely dichotomy in golf: Being annoyed that you just tied the lowest round in major history, and you’re leading the Open Championship by two shots.

“I'm absolutely disappointed, and at the same time, so proud of today,” Herbert said. “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. It's a pretty good problem to have too, to be disappointed you shot 62.”

It probably didn’t help that he’d started thinking about the record ridiculously early in his round.

“I thought it when I hit it to about five 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.”

It’s a strange thing to write, but Herbert’s 62 probably could have been better. He shot 28 on the front nine, then didn’t birdie either of Birkdale’s par 5s.

“I thought about it, if one kid gets woken up by their parents to watch me finish this round because that's the record being broken, that would be so cool, and it would tickle me pink,” Herbert said. “I hope it happened. I hope some kid's disappointed that I shot 62 and didn't hole that putt on the last.”

If by chance some kid slept through Herbert’s 62, fate offered a reprieve roughly 30 minutes later. Sam Burns also shot 62, chipping in from the bunker on 18 to join Herbert (and Grace, and Rickie Fowler, and Xander Schauffele, and Shane Lowry) in the club of lowest rounds in major championship history. Unlike Herbert, he had no idea what he was flirting with.

“I had no idea until they told me [in scoring],” Burns said. “I didn't realise that was the case. I’m pretty pleased.”

Sorry to be the Golf Grinch, but here is another dichotomy: Is it a good thing that two players shot 62 in the same championship? According to Justin Ray, there have been roughly 129,000 rounds played in majors since the Masters was founded in 1934. It’s now the third time in four years that two players have shot 62 in the same championship. Fowler and Schauffele did it in the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club in 2023, and Schauffele and Lowry did it at the PGA Championship at Valhalla in 2024.

At least in Herbert’s case, distance gains don’t have to be part of the discussion. He barely hit driver during his round, pulling it out only three times on Nos. 14, 17 and 18. He played those holes 1 over. He didn’t even carry a driver in his first round. It felt a little like a fun rebuke of the bomb-and-gauge strategy some players are deploying, but in truth, it was just a reminder that links golf can be played with different philosophies. Jackson Suber ranked 76th in driving distance, while Cameron Young ranked 11th. Both sit two shots behind Herbert.

“I have dreams of winning the Open Championship for sure,” Herbert said. “I would love to tick off more than shooting 62. I’ve got a great opportunity.”