Five feet and three inches sat between Lucas Herbert and the making of history. Another distance was far, far more relevant; that between the Australian golfer’s ears. Thousands have tried to produce a 61 in the long, celebrated history of men’s major championships. There is a reason no one has succeeded. Including, at 12 minutes past two on Friday afternoon, Herbert. No wonder his instant reaction was to slump with hands over his knees.
“I would back Lucas 100 times out of 100 to hole those,” said Herbert’s caddie, Nick Pugh. “He’s one of the best putters, if not the best putter in the world. He knocks them in with aplomb all day long. But when your heart is racing and you know what’s on the line, there’s probably just that little distraction.
“History has an evil or great way of doing this to people when history is on the line.”
Herbert’s 62 planted him atop the Open leaderboard at eight under par. He had equalled the course’s 18-hole record, becoming the sixth man to post 62 in a major and only the second in this, the original one. Yet it somehow felt inadequate. Salt was rubbed into Herbert’s wound by Sam Burns, who holed out from a bunker at the 18th for a 62 of his own when the Australian was still in the midst of media duties.
“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.
“Right now, I’ve sort of got both going on. It’s a pretty good problem to have, to be disappointed you shot 62.”
So was anybody who watched this round unfold. Birkdale, Burntdale, was meant to be far too tricky to be pulled apart in this manner. “Obviously I had a lot of thoughts running through my head today,” Herbert added. “One of them at one point was one of my earliest golf memories, my dad waking me up to watch Chad Campbell in the first round in the 2009 Masters because it looked like he had a really good chance to shoot 62 and break the record at that time.
“I thought, 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. I hope it happened. I hope some kid is disappointed that I shot 62 and didn’t hole that putt on the last. It felt like a little bit of a full-circle moment there.”
Nine years ago at Royal Birkdale, Branden Grace claimed to have no clue about the significance of his 62 while it was playing out. Herbert’s scenario was totally different. Having birdied the opening two holes, he thought of glory with a pinpoint approach to the 3rd.
“I’m a golf nerd so I know all the numbers, all the records, everything like that,” Herbert said. “I don’t play a schedule that is four majors a year consistently anyway. So the opportunities I do get to play majors, then 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 that was honestly when it came in.”
Herbert soon became the second player in Open history to play a front or back nine in just 28. Pugh congratulated his man on a front half of 29, only to be swiftly corrected. It was 28. Birdies at the 10th, 11th and 12th followed. Galleries were now flowing towards what would ordinarily have been a lightly followed grouping.
The LIV golfer produced his driver for the first time in the tournament at the par-five 14th. His finding of sand removed opportunity. The 30-year-old atoned at the 16th, where he split the fairway before setting up a birdie with a glorious iron. Signs of nerves arrived at the penultimate hole, when he whacked his second into the crowd. He saved par. Four shots at the 18th and he would etch his way into golf’s record books.
Herbert cracked his drive right. Free relief from spectator fencing softened the blow. His second was short of the putting surface. Pugh’s mind briefly flickered towards what on earth may transpire if his man holed out from there. Instead, Herbert left his putt short. Against a backdrop of expectation and silence, his par attempt slid to the left of the hole. Player and caddie hugged after Herbert returned to an upright position.
“Nick married my wife and I last year, he was our reverend,” Herbert explained. “So that sort of shows you the relationship that we have. I said to him after missing that putt on the last: ‘I love doing this stuff with you, mate.’” What might have been, though. What might have been. Burns, who surged to within three of Herbert, bizarrely felt like an inconvenience.
