'I'm here to win the tournament': Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy stay in contention at the Open

FIGHT TALK: Shane Lowry acknowledges the crowd on the 18th green during day two of The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Pic: David Davies/PA Wire.

There may have been a couple of record-low rounds on Friday at The 154th Open but Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy both did enough in their second rounds to suggest their race is far from run in the final major of the season.

Australia’s Lucas Herbert and American Sam Burns each wrote their names in men’s major championship history as they carded 62s at Royal Birkdale, matching five other low rounds, all in the recent past: Lowry, Xander Schauffele (both Valhalla, 2024 PGA), Rickie Fowler and Schauffele again (both LA Country Club North, 2023 US Open) and Branden Grace (Birkdale, 2017 Open).

Their rounds came six days on from Korean Haeran Ryu’s round of 60 at the women’s Evian Championship, the definitive lowest round in major history.

Herbert’s eight under par round sent the LIV golfer and 2021 Irish Open winner to the top of the leaderboard on eight under after 36 holes, two shots clear of a pack led by first-round pacesetter Jackson Suber and fellow American Cameron Young, with Burns leaping from three over after 18 to five under at the halfway stage.

Lowry, the 2019 champion, went one shot better than his opening score with a two-under-par 68 that leaves the Irishman five shots back from Herbert at three under, while world number two McIlroy’s bid for a seventh major title was boosted from a three-under-par 67 that moved the 2014 Open winner to one under, seven shots adrift with 36 holes to play.

While both men have improved their positions by taking advantage of the earlier and easier conditions than Birkdale has offered up to the later wave of starters, Lowry was certainly the more positive about his chances as he identified an opportunity to put a difficult early season behind him.

“Why would I come here if I didn't want to win?” Lowry said when asked about his objectives for the weekend. 

“Like, you (could) say a good week would go a long way, but who cares about where I finish in the FedExCup, or when I'm 75 years of age and I'm sitting there, you're not going to say, ‘oh, in 2026, you finished 25th in the FedExCup; well done’.

“So like, I'm here to win the tournament. I'm here to compete at this level, and I'm here to put myself into contention. I feel like I've done that somewhat. I'm quite a few back, but I feel like I'm in a good position heading into the weekend.

“I feel like the way I'm playing, all I need is just a run. If I get my run, I feel like I'll be dangerous this weekend.”

McIlroy’s putting improved considerably from his opening two-over 72 as he recorded four birdies and just one bogey on Friday. Yet the back-to-back Masters champion and Career Grand Slammer admitted he was still not totally at ease on Birkdale’s greens.

As to his chances of emulating his first Claret Jug victory in 2014 this Sunday, McIlroy said: “It depends on the conditions and the way the wind direction is.

“I think I've driven the ball so well the last two days. I think anytime I can get a driver in my hand, I'm going to try to. I just feel like with how I'm feeling with the driver, I think it's a big advantage if I can get the ball down there and take out some of these fairway bunkers.

“I'll continue to do that when I can, and then I'm still trying to figure out these greens a little bit. Yeah, I've struggled the last couple of days. It was a little better today, but still didn't feel 100 per cent comfortable. Hopefully try to figure that out as the week goes on.”

Herbert would love to get the final putt of his record-equalling round back. He pieced together an immaculate round which started with an Open front-nine record-equalling score of 28 – six birdies and no bogeys - tying Denis Durnian’s 1983 feat at the same course.

Three more birdies on the back nine put him within reach of a historic first 61 in a men’s major as took the plaudits from the packed grandstands lining the 18th green. Yet a 61 was not to be, the 30-year-old Aussie missing his five-foot birdie putt, and then the six-footer back for par, as he settled for a share of history.

“I'm absolutely disappointed, and at the same time, so proud of today,” Herbert said. “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. Right now I've sort of got both going on, and it's a pretty good problem to have too, to be disappointed you shot 62.” Lowry felt the early starters got the best of the conditions, which in part explained the feats of Burns and Herbert.

“That east wind played a lot like yesterday morning, and it makes the course play somewhat gettable,” Lowry said. “It's still amazing golf.

“And then when it's flipped, like it's going to be hard in there for these guys in the afternoon. It's not easy. I'll probably be eating my words, but I can't imagine a 62 out there this afternoon. The golf course is playing a lot different.

“Even I felt like for the first few holes the course was playing really nice, and it kind of switched on (hole) seven for us. Then it played difficult for the rest of the day.”

Of the Irish contingent all but Tom McKibbin and Fota Island amateur qualifier David Howard avoided the tougher conditions. British Amateur champion Stuart Grehan improved from a first-round 77 to a 69 while 2008 Birkdale Open winner Padraig Harrington also rebounded from an opening round to forget, a 10-over-par 80, by also carding a 69.

Fellow former champion Darren Clarke, the 2011 winner at Royal St George’s, went the other way, from an opening 73 to a 74 on Friday, too much for a halfway cut that was set to fall at one over par, 140.