By KACE KIESCHNICK, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
Ex-LSU All-American golfer Sam Burns and Australian Lucas Herbert each shot historic 62s about 20 minutes apart in round two of the British Open at the par-70 Royal Birkdale golf club in Southport, England, on Friday morning.
The scores match the lowest ever in a men’s major championship. Burns’ bogey-less round featured eight birdies and six on the back nine. At 5 under entering the 16th tee box, Burns shot a miraculous final three holes.
“I thought coming into the day if I could get it to red numbers for the golf tournament, that’d be a pretty good spot,” Burns said on NBC Sports following the round. “The finish there on the last three holes was just a bonus.”
He holed a 40-foot birdie putt from off the 16th green, made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th and capped off the historic round by sinking a birdie chip out the greenside bunker on hole 18.
“It was in a good spot in the bunker,” Burns said. “I was happy that I saw that when I walked up, and then, it was a tricky bunker shot just because I had to kind of land it in the fringe there and then use the slope down to the hole. But definitely very lucky for it to go in.”
The 29-year-old Shreveport native who played at LSU from 2015-17 became the sixth to tie the single-round record after Branden Grace, Rickie Fowler, Shane Lowry and Xander Schauffele (twice) and Hebert, who missed a 5-foot put on 18 for what could have been a 61.
Burns continues on a hot streak after finishing second at the U.S. Open last month at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, New York, following a seventh at the Masters. He nearly mounted a seven-stroke comeback on the final day of the U.S. Open before finishing one-shot shy of winner Wyndham Clark.
Burns was not even planning on attending this tournament until a week ago. His wife Caroline had a July 14 due date for the birth of their second child. But their new daughter, Belle, arrived 11 days ahead of schedule on July 3, which led to the last-minute decision.
“Even then, I still wasn’t expecting to play by any means,” Burns said. “I had a bunch of conversations with my wife, and she encouraged me to come and play, and here we are.”
Burns shot a 3-over 73 in his first round Thursday, bogeying the same three final holes he birdied to make history Friday. He finished his second round in fourth place, trailing Herbert, the leader, by three strokes.
Still in search of his first major title, the former Tiger is again in prime position to challenge for one this weekend.
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