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Key events
Some quotes from Eric Cole who shot a 64 earlier today. Cole admitted he fell over when teeing off at 11 yesterday, the slip causing a double bogey in what went on to be a 6-over 76. It sparked this exchange.
Q. I take you you’ve never heard of Richard Boxall?
ERIC COLE: Why would I have heard of that?
Q. He broke his leg hitting a tee shot. He hit a tee shot on No. 9.
ERIC COLE: Oh, over here? I have heard that story.
Q. Took him off on a stretcher.
ERIC COLE: Yeah.
After two bogeys in his opening five holes, Thomas Detry balances the books with a brilliant eagle at 5. As it’s a par 4, that means a ‘2’ on the card courtesy of a smashed drive onto the green and a 12-foot conversion. The Belgian is back to -3.
As for our leader, the 14th is a par 5 of course so Herbert has some leeway. The Aussie needs to get up and down to save his par and he’s given himself a very good shot at it after splashing from sand to four feet. In it goes! He needs to play the final four holes in -1 to get a conversation going in the McWhirter household tonight.
Back-to-back birdies for Rory McIlroy! He smashes his tee-shot onto the green at the par-4 9th and has just 11 feet for eagle. Not to be but another birdie sees him out in -2 and going in the right direction. As he plays 10, McIlroy is even par for the tournament and eight behind Herbert, who is rather strugglng up 14. A note from our man on the course, Matt Cooper, who has just messaged me this: “I’m on 14. Noticeable that it has just got breezy out of nowhere.”
Jackson Suber posts new clubhouse target of -6
The overnight leader signs for a 1-under 69 to set the 36-hole clubhouse lead of 6-under. A bag of the mixed variety: five birdies and four bogeys. Still, to follow up that opening 65 with another round in the 60s is strong stuff from the American who is playing on a UK links for the very first time.
Notes from my eight-minute walk outside.
1/ The wind has definitely picked up. Flags fluttering and sometimes in different directions. Like the 12th tee at Augusta, you don’t quite know which way’s it’s swirling.
2/ I had a brief chat with caddie Billy Foster by the putting green. He’s a friend (we live near each other around Saltaire, West Yorks) so, given the running joke about Lucas Herbert’s caddie looking like Titus Salt, it seemed very appropriate to be discussing the leader. “Lucas Herbert eh, 8-under, we’ve seen what happens on LIV when he gets on a roll,” said Billy. I only keep half an ear on LIV but just checked to see that Herbert opened 64-63 when winning LIV Golf Virginia at Trump International in May.
3/ Billy is on Matthew Southgate’s bag this week. I asked if the Englishman’s noteworthy 1-under 69 was an impressive one. “Scrapped it round, Dave. Managed to score well. Great spirit.”
4/ I saw David Duval’s caddie but not the 2001 Open champ himself. Herbert has Duval-style sunglasses on today. Not quite the black wraparounds that DD rocked, Herbert’s are reddish, but perhaps it’s a good omen.
So how did Rory get on there? I know the idea of this blog is me imparting info to you lot but hey ho. What’s that? He made birdie? Nice. Back to +1 I see. Hot putting green news coming up shortly…
I’m going to stick my head out of the media tent for a few minutes. I’ll do it under the pretence of gauging the wind direction when, as you can guess, I fancy a screen break and a leg stretch.
As I leave my chair, Rory has just set up a good birdie chance at 8. He’ll have nine feet. Back shortly.
Another birdie for Lucas Herbert! That’s eight for today! It’s like putting a marble into a bucket for the Aussie. This latest swish of the blade converts his 12-footer at 12.
Let’s work this out. This is a par 70 and he’s -8. If he pars in, that’ll be a round of 62 which would match the joint-lowest round in majors history. Are we looking at a 61? A 60? We can’t have a 59 in a major, surely. This isn’t the Travelers Championship. This is Royal Birkdale. Watch this space.
To bring him back to earth a little, Herbert’s lead is still only two as Jackson Suber delivers a birdie of his own after two-putting from 59 feet at the par-5 17th.
As Lucas Herbert and Titus Salt-lookalike caddie, Nick Pugh, make merry around Royal Birkdale, here’s the leaderboard. Collin Morikawa looking like a big dangerman. The 2021 Open champ has gone out in 31 after holing a 15-footer for birdie at 9 to move into a tie for second. Also note that The Players Championship winner, Cameron Young, has snuck up to tied fifth.
-7: Herbert (11)
-5: Suber (16), Cauley (11), Morikawa (9)
-4: Wallace (F), Coodey (12), Young (8), Im (-), Brown (-)
While McIlroy and Fizpatrick get buffeted around by the vagaries of links golf, Lucas Herbet is making this look a doddle. A seventh birdie of the day, this one at 11, takes him to the giddy heights of -7. That’s two clear of Jackson Suber and Bud Cauley.
I caught a glimpse of Cauley yesterday when walking the course and couldn’t help but notice how tiny he is. I guess being surrounded by strapping types such as Ludvig Aberg doesn’t help when you’re 5ft 7in. Cauley has other ways to win a round of Top Trumps though and last month’s Canadian Open champion is playing some superb golf so far this week.
Matt Fitzpatrick is aghast as he gets a flier from rough at the par-4 6th. “Of course it does. Of course everyone’s comes out like that,” he chunters sarcastically. His ball rockets through and off the green. Rory is also hitting from hay and it’s a classic wrap around the hosel job as his approach is tugged way left. Both are currently in a tie for 67th so have work to do to even make the cut never mind getting in contention.
Fitzpatrick’s third doesn’t quite creep onto the green and his fourth comes up short too. Six feet short. Thankfully he knocks the bogey putt in. Playing partner McIlroy leaves himself a 10-footer for par but it’s always drifting right. With his hand, he makes the motion of the way his putt travelled and lets out a sigh. McIlroy and Fitzpatrick are now tied 90th. Should those hoping to watch them this weekend be concerned?
Great diary entries from Michael Kim yesterday. He’s the best golfer to follow on social media for those who love little insights and reflections. Here’s a sample from the American’s opening round yesterday.
“+3…. Rubbish as they say around here.”
“It is a really cool walk to 1 tee. Each yr I feel like I’m walking into the Roman coliseum. It’s amazing how quiet it got when I got over the ball. Shoutout to all the fans that came out by 645.”
“Btw… IMG rented the house next to mine and had a party with live music and club music until 1130 last night even though they assured us it would be til 10pm… I hope their players get some bad lies in the rough.”
After a two-putt par at 4, McIlroy has nine feet for birdie at the short par-4 5th hole. Matt Fitzpatrick shows him the way by draining his 16-footer to return to +1 but Rory’s attempt drifts right. He looks back at the hole, shooting it quite a stare. A really good birdie opportunity missed.
Lucas Herbert matches all-time record Open nine of 28
My word! Lucas Herbert holes one for birdie from off the green at 9 and he’s out in a ludicrous 28. That matches Denis Durnian’s all-time low for nine holes of golf at an Open. In a nice piece of symmetry that also came at Birkdale in round two (1983). Durnian went on to finish tied eighth but his Open record is bizarre. The man from Wigan played in 11 Opens and missed the cut in 10 of them. To say 1983 was an outlier is something of an understatement.
Anyway, that amazing burst of scoring has taken Herbert to -6, a shot clear of Jackson Suber, who has just birdied the 14th.
Matt Wallace leads in the clubhouse with -4
Matt Wallace tickles in a par putt at 18 to post the clubhouse lead of -4. Great save after he had to play his third from an extremely awkward stance from a greenside bunker. The 36-year-old traded five birdies with two bogeys today and, as we speak, he’s in a tie for second place, a spot behind Lucas Herbert. Still a bonkers stat that no Englishman has won The Open on English soil since Tony Jacklin at Lytham in 1969.
The hot man on the course right now is Patrick Reed. This is his scorecard: birdie, birdie, par, birdie, par, birdie, birdie. That seven-hole burst has lifted the former Masters winner to 3-under and just two back.
Rory has a 25-footer for birdie on Birkdale’s opening par 3 but his double breaker at 3 doesn’t go back the other way in time. A safe par but Fitzpatrick bogeys to drop to +2.
I felt envious eyes on me in the media canteen earlier. Options for early tucker are a cooked breakfast with all the works or a bit of fruit/yoghurt. But what about cereal lovers? They live among us more than we think. I smuggled in two small boxes of cornflakes from a variety pack and and could see grown men - just men - drooling as I poured them into a soup bowl I had to ask for. #winning
Eric Cole shoot 64
Eric Cole completes a 6-under 64 – the lowest round of the week so far. The American journeyman has jumped 97 spots to 45th with that superb lap of Royal Birkdale. Seven birdies and a single bogey today and he’ll surely be rueing yesterday’s opening 76. Some effort to get back to even par though and that’ll be two cuts out of two in this event. He was 31st on his Open debut at Royal Troon in 2024.
Summary
A leaderboard update. Very much day two stuff you would imagine with a variety of surprise names swapping places at the top. Perhaps -3 is where the real lead lies. Ryder Cup stars Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young are both on that mark after five and three holes respectively this morning.
-5: Herbert (7)
-4: Wallace (17), Norris (13), Suber (13), Coody (8), Im (-), Brown (-)
McIlroy splits the fairway a the 3rd. He has 182 yards in but it’s not his best. A shot where he lets out one of those Rory sighs as the ball ends a long way left of where he was aiming. It’s on the dancefloor but he’ll be putting from over 40 feet away.
Meanwhile, Herbert goes to -5 for the day and the tournament after draining a 35-footer for birdie at 7. He hands his putter to Titus Salt/Pughy with a broad smile. And suddenly the Aussie leads on his own as Suber and Norris both drop shots at 13.
Wandering around the course this week I can’t stop catching sight of Lucas Herbert’s caddie. I live in Saltaire, West Yorkshire, the creation of Titus Salt. Herbert’s caddie, Nick Pugh, has a long, white fluffy beard absolutely in the Titus style. His man Herbert is just one off the lead after four early birdies today so look out for ‘Pughy’ in the coverage.
Matt Fitzpatrick rolls in a 12-footer at 2 to get himself to +1. Or, through a sibling lens, to within a shot off his brother Alex. And, perhap lifted by seeing a white ball going into a little hole after being hit with a stick, McIlroy converts his seven-footer so he’s also back to +1. That’s more like it. Rory is 36th in Strokes Gained: Putting on the PGA Tour this year so yesterday’s mishaps on the greens were out of character.
Rory McIlroy has just 58 yards left at this 414-yard second. He nips a wedge that settles down seven feet from the hole. The first leg of his bid to get into red figures for the tournament this morning? Lots of slumped shoulders from McIlroy yesterday with short putt after short putt missing so this will be a confidence builder if he can knock it in.
Up at 12, Norris birdies and ties the lead with Suber at -5. An unlikely pair of pacesetters.
Thanks Scott. And good morning from Royal Birkdale. I’ve just walked the first hole and, blimey, it’s busy. There’s a bottleneck down the left side of the fairway which was tricky to negotiate with Rory in the vicinity. Beautiful day out there. A very light breeze.
Jackson Suber throws a bit of a hissy fit as he sends a short iron into 11. He considers burying the hosel of his club into the ground, but checks himself just in time. No idea why he’s so vexed: he’s pin high, 20 feet to the left. And then he rolls in the birdie putt. This is a seriously impressive response to that earlier sticky patch from the unheralded young American. He’s back to where he started the day! Meanwhile more birdies for Shaun Norris and Lucas Herbert, at 11 and 5 respectively, and here’s how the top of the leaderboard looks like now …
-5: Suber (11)
-4: Wallace (15), Norris (11), Coody (7), Herbert (5), Im, Brown
… and with that, I’ll hand you over to your friend and mine, Mr David Tindall. See you again later!
Rory McIlroy is out and about. On the 1st green in regulation, facing an 18-foot birdie putt. He doesn’t hang about taking it, but it’s always missing on the right. Still, he got the pace pretty much spot on, which was his big problem yesterday. He remains at +2.
So much for giving Cameron Young the big build-up. He knifes a chip from tousled greenside rough at the 1st a good 12 feet past. He can’t make the one coming back and slips to -2. His playing partner, the new US Open champion Wyndham Clark, takes putter from a similar lie … and holes it. Birdie, and it’s nice to hear the gallery give him a warm reception as he moves to +2. A big smile on his face … which then quickly disappears as he flays his tee shot at 2 into thick cabbage down the left … but you get the general point.
Jackson Suber gets moving in the right direction again! After that miserable sequence towards the back end of the front nine, the overnight leader warms that misbehaving putter at long last. He rolls in a 20-footer for birdie at 10, and he reclaims a share of top spot at -4.
The veteran South African Shaun Norris is going well. Birdies at 5 and now 9 sees him hit the turn in 32. He’s -3 and, capitulation notwithstanding, is well on course to snap a run of four consecutive missed cuts at the Open. Also at -3: the 2021 champ Collin Morikawa, who rolls in a 50-foot left-to-right swinger from the fringe at the back of 2.
-4: Wallace (13), Coody (5), Im, Brown
-3: Norris (9), Suber (9), Cauley (4), Herbert (4), Morikawa (2), C Young, Detry, MacIntyre, Molinari, Smalley, DeChambeau, Gerard, Daffue
The Players champion Cameron Young sends his opening tee shot towards the rough down the left … but gets a fortunate bounce back out onto the short stuff. The 29-year-old New Yorker, who came second in this championship at St Andrews in 2022, is surely a major champion in waiting, having also finished high at the Masters, PGA and US Open. Yes, we said this sort of thing about Rickie Fowler and Colin Montgomerie also, but it’s way too early for that sort of defeatist talk. A 67 yesterday, and perhaps this, finally, is his time. We’ll know a lot more in the next couple of hours.
English (US) ·