The 154th Open - Day two digest

Lucas and Sam etched their names into the history books, Bryson was assessed a penalty, Tommy rode a wave of home support and Matt made his move.

Here is everything you need to know from day two of The 154th Open at Royal Birkdale.

Herbert and Burns equal Major record

In the space of about 20 minutes, Lucas Herbert and then Sam Burns put their names into golf's history books. Herbert came close to holding a record of his own as he missed a five-foot par putt at the tough 18th to settle for an eight-under 62 that saw the Australian match the lowest round in Major Championship history. Shortly afterwards, American Burns chipped in from a greenside bunker at the last to emulate the score as the pair became the sixth and seventh men to shoot a 62 in one of golf's four marquee events. While Herbert conceded to mixed emotions of pride and dissapointment as he played his way into the clubhouse lead, Burns was just happy to be teeing it up in the final men's Major of the year after making a late decision to make the trip following the birth of his second child earlier this month.

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Strong American contingent in the chase

Seven of the top 16 players on the leaderboard are American. Jackson Suber, who held the lead after the first round, Cameron Young and Ryan Gerard are in a group two shots adrift of Herbert. A shot further back is Bryson DeChambeau, who appeared to have played his way into the final group on Saturday only to be assessed a two-stroke penalty for inadvertently improving his lie. The two-time U.S. Open champion is joined at five under by Burns and South Korea's Si Woo Kim. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler is at four under - four adrift - alongside Bud Cauley.

Fleetwood in the mix at Birkdale

Tommy Fleetwood rode a wave of home support to produce a strong finish and play his way firmly into the mix at the halfway stage of The 154th Open. The Englishman is the fans’ favourite this week at Royal Birkdale in his hometown of Southport as he bids to become a major champion for the first time. He admitted to struggling in his first-round 69 but he raised hopes of becoming the first Englishman to be crowned Champion Golfer of the Year since Sir Nick Faldo in 1992 with three birdies in his final five holes to card a three-under-par 67. "I played better," he said. "Still, you're not going to go to feeling fully comfortable. I hit a lot more good shots. I felt a lot more in control. It's funny really, like towards the end, I hit two good shots on 13, and then like 14, and definitely by the time I got to 17 and 18 I was flowing quite a little bit. That was a really nice feeling. Late in the evening with a great atmosphere and sort of get it going and hit some good shots towards the end."

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Also at four under is his 2018 Ryder Cup team-mate Francesco Molinari, who is hunting a second Claret Jug eight years after victory at Carnoustie.

Wallace happy to be 'ordinary' as he makes Major move

Matt Wallace was determined not to get overawed by his surroundings after a second-round 67 put him into a strong position heading into the weekend at The Open Championship. The 36-year-old carded five birdies and two dropped shots from the second group of the day to get to four under at an event where he has a best finish of a tie for 40th in six appearances. "It's that cliché isn't it? It's just the same again," he said of his mindset ahead of the weekend. "I like that phrase: ordinary golf on a special occasion. That's all we're trying to do, play ordinary golf like today and yesterday but it's The Open Championship so let's keep it like that because it gets me juiced up, I like it."

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Making the cut on debut

At the start of the week, 12 DP World Tour members made their Open Championship debuts. At the close of play on Friday, five played their way through to the weekend. Gerard is the pick of the bunch on his Open debut, with Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Hennie du Plessis, Casey Jarvis and Eugenio Chacarra also progressing through to the final two days.

No low amateur Silver Medal

For a second consecutive year, the Silver Medal will not be awarded as none of the ten amateurs in the field made the cut. U.S. Amateur champion Mason Howell came the closest, carding a second-round 69 to finish at two over - one stroke outside of progressing through to the final two days. Scotland's Calum Scott was the last winner of the Silver Medal at Royal Troon in 2024.