They’ve made the cut at Royal Birkdale, which means — at risk of piling on — the list of tournament losers has grown. But there are winners everywhere for those with the eyes to see.
Let’s get to some of each.
Editor’s note: Let’s start with the mega-story unfolding in real time as we’re about to press publish here, which is Bryson DeChambeau’s penalty-or-not and the bizarre reenactment that just took place by the 5th hole. We will declare this both a winner (for content purposes, it’s fascinating) and a loser (because, genuinely, this seems like a strange, unfortunate sideshow and I’m worried it’ll detract from an otherwise glorious major championship, no matter the outcome). Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled version of this column …
WINNER: Lucas Herbert, Halfway Champion
We can start our list of winners very literally with the Halfway Champ of this Open Championship: Lucas Herbert. When he made his ninth birdie of the day at No. 16, it suddenly seemed like he would shatter the major scoring record of 62; instead he settled for par at the easy par-5 17th and tugged a five-footer at the last before tapping in for bogey and eight-under 62.
“I’m absolutely disappointed, and at the same time, so proud of today. It’s holding two emotions there at the same time,” Herbert said.
Hell of a start.
LOSER: Old Man Par
A short while later — just 22 minutes, by James Colgan’s count — Sam Burns stormed his way into the 62 club, too, thanks to a preposterous birdie-birdie-birdie finish consisting of a made 20-footer plus two holeouts from off the green.
(For context: Burns didn’t think he’d be here, but he and his wife, Caroline, welcomed their baby daughter, Belle, into the world on July 3, just in time for him to make the trip.)
UNBELIEVABLE FINISH FOR 62 BY SAM BURNS! 🔥🤯
Brilliant bunker holeout on 18, and another player ties the lowest men’s major round pic.twitter.com/KnNMpCJjDT
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 17, 2026
In recent years, these 62s have come in pairs. Branden Grace first shot 62 in 2017, and then there were 62s from Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele at the 2023 U.S. Open, 62s from Shane Lowry and Xander Schauffele at the 2024 PGA Championship, and now 62s from Burns and Herbert.
Augusta National is now the only major yet to yield a single 62 — never mind two in the same week.
WINNER: Little brother Alex
The Summer of Alex Fitzpatrick rolled on with a Friday 67 that boosted him to the first page of the leaderboard. Fitzpatrick has been on a tear since winning the Zurich Classic alongside his brother, Matt, validating his newly earned PGA Tour card with a series of top 10s. Time to see if he can bag his highest major finish yet. Speaking of his brother …
LOSER: Big brother Matt
The Summer of Matt Fitzpatrick temporarily stalled out on Friday morning when he posted his second consecutive round of two-over 72 to miss the cut by several shots. Fitzpatrick has won three times on the PGA Tour this season, entered as World No. 3 and was among the week’s trendiest picks.
Even worse, he has to endure lines like this from his brother, his roommate for the week:
Q. Do you generally discuss performances?
ALEX FITZPATRICK: No, no, I just leave him to do his stats, and I’ll just watch my TV.
Tough.
WINNER: Bryson DeChambeau’s strategy
We included this after Thursday’s opening round and it’s worth mentioning again: Despite Nick Faldo’s pre-tournament ethering of Bryson DeChambeau’s tactics, through two rounds his strategy for taking down Birkdale has been remarkably effective. While Faldo suggested you can’t attack a links course, DeChambeau has picked his spots to get aggressive and, on the whole, has pulled it off.
He followed up a first-round 67 with a second-round 66, capped off with a birdie-birdie finish in front of jam-packed grandstands. He sits just a shot off the lead.
Sidenote: He put on a good show for the World No. 1, too.
Fun watching Bryson and Scottie in the same group. Especially because — as far as I can tell — it hasn’t happened at a stroke-play golf tournament in five years!
Bryson said something about Scottie in his R&A interview yesterday that jumped out:
“It was fun playing with… pic.twitter.com/T5XI0IwZ5v
— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) July 17, 2026
Second sidenote: Still awaiting a penalty ruling. Not sure what the hell is going on.
LOSER: Jon Rahm’s 6-iron
Jon Rahm tested his club’s structural integrity after pulling his tee shot well left of the green at No. 16. He received an official code of conduct warning but dodged a two-stroke penalty.
Jon Rahm has been notified that he received an official code of conduct warning for his club throw on the 15th hole.
The next offense could result in a two-stroke penalty. pic.twitter.com/UUqU0gS0oy
— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) July 17, 2026
It’s worth noting that Rahm’s other irons seemed to pick up the slack, including a towering 5-iron into the par-5 17th and a flagged 7-iron into No. 18; he’s very much in the mix at four-under par heading to the weekend.
WINNER: Tommy Fleetwood’s dream return
This is a winner in the sense that it’s ongoing; Tommy Fleetwood is four-under par and inside the top 10 heading to the weekend. The energy around his group was already ratcheted way up on Friday afternoon — I can’t imagine how it’ll feel come Saturday and Sunday if he’s still in the mix.
LOSER: Justin Rose’s dream return
There will be no storybook ending for Justin Rose, who moved up the board with a Friday-afternoon 68 but was undone by Thursday’s 75; he fell two shots short of the cut line. Rose shared a nice moment with the crowd after an up-and-down from the greenside bunker at No. 18 — but I know he would have preferred that reception late on Sunday instead of Friday.
“I think the overriding emotion is disappointment because I want to play two more rounds,” Rose said. “Not just that I want to be in contention, I want to want to win the tournament. I actually want to play two more rounds. The course is obviously fantastic, weather is incredible, and the crowd are a sensation out there.”
WINNER: Spectacular cut-makers
Min Woo Lee birdied No. 18 to make the cut on the number.
Aldrich Potgieter finished eagle-par to make the cut on the number.
Naoyuki Kataoka birdied 16-17-18 to make the cut on the number.
But Josele Ballester’s eagle-birdie finish brought him from fou- over par back to one over, giving him a miraculous pair of weekend tee times.
Josele Ballester needed to go 3-under on 17-18 to likely make the cut (+1)…
And he executes not one, but TWO amazing clutch shots to get it done 🤯🔥 pic.twitter.com/FuNJBdd1ds
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 17, 2026
LOSER: Jordan Spieth’s dream return
Jordan Spieth entered the week hoping to channel some of the magic from his 2017 win at Royal Birkdale. He entered Friday hoping to rally to make the cut. Instead he limped off the 18th having scored 14 shots higher than playing partners Fleetwood and Rahm; his day included two three-putts from short range plus a quadruple-bogey 9 at No. 17. Brutal.
WINNER: Two Open rookies
Jackson Suber and Ryan Gerard are on the first page of the leaderboard, tied for third at six-under par. What else do they have in common? They’ve never played one of these before!
LOSER: Two major champs
Our two most recent major champions — Aaron Rai and Wyndham Clark, who claimed this year’s PGA and U.S. Open, respectively — will have the weekend off. Rai posted two-over and Clark finished a shot behind him; Rory McIlroy (one-under par, T39) is the only guy left with a chance at a multiple-major season.
WINNER: Marcus Plunkett’s made cut
There are plenty of spectacular stories on display this week. Marcus Plunkett’s charge to the cut line — given where he’s been — is right at the top.
FINAL WINNERS: Us
It’s an electric leaderboard and a classic Open test with a nearly endless number of big names lurking. Just in the top 25: Cameron Young, Robert MacIntyre, Scottie Scheffler, Ludvig Aberg, Tyrrell Hatton, Patrick Reed, Chris Gotterup, Collin Morikawa, Adam Scott and so many more.
We’ll see you on Saturday.
Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.
