Lucas Herbert takes two-shot Open lead despite missing historic 61 at Birkdale

Herbert looked set to become the first player to shoot a 61 in one of golf's four majors, but missed a five-foot par putt at the final hole to settle for an eight-under-par 62.

Around 20 minutes later, Burns produced an identical 62, holing out from a greenside bunker on the last to equal the Major Championship record.

American trio Jackson Suber, who held the lead after the first round, Cameron Young and Ryan Gerard are in a group two shots adrift of Herbert.

Bryson DeChambeau appeared to have played his way into the final group on Saturday but received a two-shot penalty for inadvertently improving the area of his intended swing ahead of his second shot at the fifth hole.

As a result, it meant the American carded a second-round 68 which moved him to five under in a share of fifth place alongside countryman Burns and South Korea's Si Woo Kim.

Earlier in the day, Herbert covered the front nine in just 28 strokes, equalling Denis Durnian's 1983 Open record, to get to six under and came home in 33.

"I'm absolutely disappointed, and at the same time, so proud of today," said Herbert.

"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, and I'm sure once the dust settles, I'll be able to sort of decompress it a little bit."

He later admitted to just being happy to be in the field at Birkdale after making a late decision to make the trip to Merseyside after the birth of his second child, Belle, earlier this month.

"I thought there was zero per cent chance of playing," said Burns.

"My agent said 'I'm going to sign you up just in case', but I thought I was probably not going to be able to play.

"Then we ended up having her on July 3. Even then, I still wasn't expecting to play by any means. I had a bunch of conversations with my wife, and she encouraged me to come over and play, and here we are."

English trio Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Wallace and Alex Fitzpatrick are in a nine-strong group of players at four under, alongside defending champion Scottie Scheffler, 2018 Open champion Francesco Molinari, two-time major winner Jon Rahm, Scotland's Robert MacIntyre, Belgium's Thomas Detry and Bud Cauley of the United States.

Masters champion Rory McIlroy shot a 67 on Friday to improve to one under par and remains in the hunt over the weekend..

The cut fell at one over, with major champions Aaron Rai, Matt Fitzpatrick, Wyndham Clark and Cameron Smith among some of the notables to miss out on the weekend.

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