Lucas Herbert had a five-foot putt on the 18th green at Royal Birkdale and a chance to do something no one in men’s major history had ever done. He missed it. Not long after, Sam Burns found himself in a bunker by that same green, needing a birdie just to match a number only a handful of players had ever reached. He holed it.

It all happened so quickly it almost didn’t feel real. Herbert walked off with a 62 and looked like he’d let something slip away. Burns signed for the same number and was all smiles, barely aware of what he’d just pulled off. For about an hour, one of golf’s toughest scoring marks suddenly felt both untouchable and surprisingly within reach.

Two players, two 62s, on the same course where Branden Grace first broke through with that number back in 2017. Royal Birkdale has now seen all three 62s in Open history, and somehow two of them came on the same day.

Two Completely Different Ways To Reach 62

Herbert started Friday at even par and then just… stopped missing. Three straight birdies to open, three more at 5, 7 and 9, and suddenly he’s turning in 28. That ties Denis Durnian’s front-nine record at Birkdale from 1983, which was one of those numbers most people thought could never be touched.

By the time he stuffed one to five feet at the third, you could tell where his head was going. He’s admitted he’s a bit of a golf nerd, knows all the records, so this wasn’t some blissfully unaware heater. He knew exactly what was out there, which somehow makes it more impressive and more stressful at the same time.

He kept it rolling with birdies at 11 and 12, then another at 16 to get to nine under on the round. At that point, it got real. Two boring pars coming in and he’s got the first 61 in men’s major history. A birdie at 17 and suddenly you’re talking about 60, maybe even 59, which sounds ridiculous until you’re watching it happen. But he pushed his approach left there and had to settle for par.

That’s when the nerves finally showed up. He drove it right on 18 and got lucky to find some relief off a fence. Then he came up short with the approach and left himself a longer first putt than he wanted. The five-footer for history slid by on the left, and he just kind of folded over, hands on his knees, like he knew exactly what he’d just let slip.

Nine birdies. A 62. The clubhouse lead at eight under. And somehow the first feeling was still, “man, that could’ve been more.”

“It’s a pretty good problem to have,” Herbert said, which is about as honest as it gets. He wasn’t beating himself up over the stroke — he hit it where he wanted. Just misread it. That’s golf.

Burns, meanwhile, took a completely different path to the exact same number. He opened with a 73, started Friday at three over, and was way more worried about making the cut than chasing history. Two birdies on the front, then he just caught fire on the back with six more, including the last three holes.

And the one at 18 was absurd. That hole had been chewing guys up all day, and Burns misses the green straight into a bunker. From there, he basically has to land it perfectly on the fringe and hope the slope does the rest. It did. Straight into the cup for the first birdie anyone made there all day and a bogey-free 62.

The best part? He didn’t even know what he’d done until someone told him after.

He almost wasn’t here at all. His wife, Caroline, was due to give birth this week, so he was planning to skip it. Their daughter, Belle, showed up 11 days early and Caroline eventually convinced him to go. He didn’t even get to Birkdale until Monday afternoon.

So you’ve got one guy chasing 61 for five hours and missing it by a breath, and another who nearly stayed home, started the day three over, and kind of stumbled into history with a ridiculous bunker shot.

Same number. Completely different stories.

Birkdale Opened A Window, Not A Door

Two 62s in the same morning pretty much kills the idea that conditions didn’t play a role. Of course they did. Herbert and Burns teed off around the same time, when the wind was still behaving itself. By the afternoon, the sea breeze showed up and started pushing 20-plus mph. At The Open, that’s the difference between firing at pins and just trying to make it through the hole without losing golf balls.

Birkdale was also cooked out before the week even started. That can mean rock-hard and nasty, and parts of it definitely were. But it also thinned out some of the rough that usually punishes you for missing. Rory McIlroy called it a “double-edged sword.” Guys could hit driver over bunkers, miss a little, and still have a wedge in instead of hacking out sideways.

That’s not the course rolling over. That’s the course giving you a choice.

And it still had teeth. Miss in the wrong spot, and you paid for it. The fairways were running like crazy, the bunkers were still basically automatic penalties, and the greens had those runoffs that leave you guessing. Just look at 18. Herbert made bogey there and lost his shot at 61. Burns had to hole one out of a bunker just to grab 62. That hole alone tells you everything.

This is also why I don’t love the “it’s the equipment” argument here. Birkdale isn’t trying to beat you with length anyway. It’s just 77 yards longer than it was in 2017. What makes it hard is the wind and the angles and all that sand waiting for you. Take the wind down for a few hours and yeah, the best players in the world are going to look pretty comfortable. Turn it back on, and suddenly it’s a grind again.

We’ve seen both versions of this place before. Harrington won here at three over in 2008. Spieth got to 12 under in 2017. That same year, Branden Grace shot the first 62 in major history and still only finished tied for sixth because the rest of his week wasn’t nearly as clean.

All stats courtesy of the PGA Tour.

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