The China Mail - Herbert takes British Open lead, equals major history with 62 alongside Burns

Herbert leads by two shots from overnight leader Jackson Suber, but the world number 97 doubled over his putter in anguish as a short attempt for par on the 18th slipped by with the chance to become the first man to post a major round of 61.

Burns followed suit less than an hour later after six birdies on the back nine, including a chip on from the bunker on 18, to move to five under for the tournament.

Herbert, who has spent the last two years on the breakaway LIV tour, began the day at level par.

Under glorious sunshine in Southport on England's north-west coast, the 30-year-old got off to a flying start with birdies on his opening three holes and added three more at the fifth, seventh and ninth to hit the turn in 28, a British Open record for the front nine.

His momentum continued with birdies at the 12th and 13th before a perfect approach set up another three at the par-four 16th for a shot at history.

Despite a wayward tee shot at the last, he should still have scrambled for a par but the moment in front of huge crowds seemed to get to Herbert as two tentative putts resulted in his first bogey of the day.

Burns took the opposite route to 62 with a six-under 30 on the back nine to surge into contention.

The world number 18 sank a 20-foot birdie at the 17th and then chipped in from the greenside at the last for his share of history.

Both players equal the course record set by Branden Grace the last time the British Open was held at Birkdale in 2017, one of five previous rounds of 62 at majors.

Those also included Xander Schauffele and Shane Lowry's rounds of nine under par at the 2024 PGA Championship at the 71-par Valhalla.

- McIlroy set to make cut -

Suber shone on his first ever British Open round on Thursday and showed plenty of resilience to remain in contention during a rollercoaster second round.

The American made three consecutive bogeys at the sixth, seventh and eighth to drop back to three under par at the turn.

However, Suber picked up four birdies on the back nine to climb up to second place on six under heading into the weekend.

Rory McIlroy recovered from a difficult opening round of 72, that included six bogeys, to at least put himself in position to mount a surge up the leaderboard over the weekend

The six-time major champion moved to one under par with two holes to play.

McIlroy's playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick is one of the big names set to miss the cut.

Fitzpatrick has been one of the form players on the PGA Tour this year to climb up to third in the world rankings.

The Englishman has struggled to produce his best at the majors and slipped to four over par with two holes to play, four adrift of the projected cut mark.

Scottie Scheffler is among the later starters as he aims to build on a steady start to his defence of the Claret Jug.

The world number one begins at two under par in a marquee group alongside Bryson DeChambeau and England's Tyrrell Hatton at 3.04pm local time (1404GMT).

I.Ko--ThChM