THE 154TH OPEN

July 17, 2026

Lucas Herbert

Press Conference

OLIVIA McMILLAN: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am delighted to be joined by Australia's Lucas Herbert, who has just scored a 62 to equal the lowest round in men's major championship history. Does that sound pretty nice, Lucas?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, that's pretty cool. I just saw the list before of guys who have shot 62, and it sounds like we just added another one to it out there with Sam as well.

That's a really cool list to be a part of. Even that whole back nine today, it was not lost on me the amount of history in major championships and the opportunity I had to obviously break the record, but then to tie it as well is still something I'm really proud of.

Q. Lucas, you touched on it there, but just the chronology of when you realised what was in view for you and how that affects your mindset or your nerves, dare I say, as you're playing?

LUCAS HERBERT: It's not a great question because I'm too much of an optimist, and I thought it when I hit it to about five feet on the 3rd hole. I'm a golf nerd anyway, so I know all the numbers, all the records, everything like that.

I don't play a schedule that is four majors a year consistently anyway, so the opportunities I do get to play majors, and you get an opportunity to get off to a hot start on a golf course that's a par 70 -- not that I wanted the thoughts to come into my head, but it was honestly when it came in.

So it was a bit of fun for the rest of the day just trying to acknowledge the fact that there was a chance but just to try to continue to go about what I was doing normally and naturally as best I could.

Q. Back in 1966 Arnold Palmer said that chasing the 72-hole record of Ben Hogan was what got him out of sorts, and that's why he fell out of the U.S. Open lead and ultimately lost the playoff to Billy Casper. How much pressure got added as the round went on, and how much tougher did it get?

LUCAS HERBERT: I don't know that it got tougher necessarily. I mean, the first 12 holes, I might not play 12 better holes in my life. I was 8-under through 12, and you could make a very good argument that I could have been a couple better as well.

I was very aware that that was not going to last forever, and it's not like the golf course got harder. I just kind of played a bit more normally.

Then you look at the last five or six holes, I mean, I wasn't far away from missing that bunker on 14 and I'm a mile down there. I didn't think it got harder towards the end of the round. I knew the record was there. The record is always going to be there, whether it's 62, whether it goes to 61 or 60.

My job was to execute the best I could do and then enjoy this moment here of talking to you guys about that. So I just kind of wanted to get really caught up in that at the time.

I thought I did a really good job of it. There's no swings I want back coming back down the stretch. Even the shot into 17, it was just poor execution. I thought I did a good job of doing what I thought I needed to do. It was a tough shot. You've kind of got to keep it down the left-hand side with the wind hitting you pretty hard off the left.

Yeah, I don't want that one back. I'd love it again, but I don't regret the way I played that shot, I guess. I can at least sit here and go -- and tell you guys that I did the best I could to shoot the best round I could, and I have no regrets.

Q. Lucas, how quickly did you know something special was there? Secondly, what did you see on the putt on 18?

LUCAS HERBERT: I think I said just before, pretty early in the round. I felt good coming into the week. I felt good on the range warming up the first couple of holes. I felt pretty confident. And getting off to that kind of hot start on a golf course that's a par 70 with pretty benign conditions this morning as well, I thought I had a really good opportunity.

Now, it's a long way away from obviously taking three birdies to start your round into shooting a 61 or 62, but yeah, unfortunately that thought popped into my head pretty early in the round. I did a really nice job of kind of letting that sit there without giving it too much attention.

The putt on the last, I thought it was kind of left side of the hole. I thought the wind was off the left a little as well which might push it. It just kind of jagged a little left early on me early and never came back.

I didn't hit a bad putt. I can at least sleep easy tonight knowing I didn't hit a bad putt, I just misread it. It's pretty tough when you've got to putt for the major championship record to get everything to work and to get everything to sync perfectly still and straight.

Q. Because you were so, so close, is there a grain of disappointment that you didn't actually break the record? Secondly, what did you do last night that got you in such a good frame of mind for this morning?

LUCAS HERBERT: I'm absolutely disappointed, and at the same time, so proud of today. 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.

Sorry, what was the second part of that question?

Q. What did you have for dinner last night or to drink?

LUCAS HERBERT: I have no exciting answers for you there. I had a steak and a cheeseburger actually. So there you go. There's something in that maybe.

Q. A bit of power for your driving maybe?

LUCAS HERBERT: There you go.

Q. I heard from -- you mentioned possibly earlier in the week that you might not be hitting driver. You might even take it out of the bag. I wondered if that was -- you ended up hitting it a few times today, if that was something that was inspired by the way the round was going, and also if you know that Peter Thomson rarely hit driver when he won both times here. What was your thinking there a couple of the drives down the stretch?

LUCAS HERBERT: So we had plans for the wind direction. The wind direction yesterday, we didn't think we'd need driver. I didn't carry driver yesterday. It only went in today.

We hit it -- the first driver I obviously hit for the championship was down 14 there. I think, if I had -- we dropped a 2-iron to put driver in. If I had have had the 2-iron, I probably would have hit it down 17. Sort of an awkward tee shot. You're probably not landing it in the fairway and keeping it in the fairway on 17 with driver. 3-wood was too much. 3-iron was going to be a long way back. So it ended up being driver down 17.

That was probably the only one that I guess forced the issue because I did have it in the bag.

18, again, it feels like there's bunkers everywhere. It feels like trying to walk through a mine field up 18, there's so many bunkers down there. If I can get it in the furthest bunker down that I can, I'll have the best chance of making 4. That was my thoughts.

Q. We just spoke to your caddie Nick outside. I'm just wondering when you get a round going like that, what sort of role does he play, and how important is he in that moment?

LUCAS HERBERT: He plays an unbelievable role, whether we're getting that round going or any round going. He's one of the hardest workers you'll see. He's the guy that's out here Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. If he's not caddieing for me or carrying my bag somewhere, he's walking the course and figuring everything out.

I've never stood over a shot and asked him what's left down here or what's right over there or anything, and he hasn't got an answer for me, he's so well prepared.

The role he plays today is probably distracting me from the opportunity that I had to shoot 61, 60, or whatever the number might be. We had some pretty rogue subjects we were talking about out there just to sort of distract ourselves between shots.

He's one of my best friends. He was the -- he married my wife and I last year. He was our reverend. So that sort of shows you the relationship that we have. I said to him after missing that putt on the last, like I love doing this stuff with you, mate.

Q. Can I ask what he said back on 18? I know you had a bit of an embrace.

LUCAS HERBERT: I don't remember. I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the response.

Q. You've always been really honest about your game and your stuff. Did you ever dare to dream when you were a kid about ever doing something like this?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, I think so. It's two worlds apart, though, to have dreams and then to have even a glimpse of it sort of come to reality. Dreams of winning The Open Championship for sure, and I'm in a great position to do that through two rounds. There's still a lot of golf to go and a lot of work to do.

I think that's probably the thing that -- that would be the dream is I would love to tick off more than shooting 62. Yeah, I've got a great opportunity. I'm looking forward to getting after it on the weekend.

Q. Were you surprised at all that there were two 62s today?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yes and no. I mean, it's a phenomenally hard golf course. It's obviously baked out, so it's playing quite tough. But in the same breath, it was pretty benign out there this morning. I think Sam finished, what, two or three groups behind me.

It's pretty benign, and if you were ever going to do it, this was the morning for it.

These guys are good. I'm probably not as surprised as you think that there's another 62 out there. I'm probably more surprised at myself shooting 62, to be honest.

Q. Just wanted to know what you thought your best shot was today, and also just talk through your third on 17, obviously a bit of a tricky lie there. And also, whether thought you'd get free relief on 18?

LUCAS HERBERT: Best shot today, I think the putt on 16. There was a lot of noise going on about -- not that anyone said anything. There's nothing from the crowd, no one vocalised it, but everyone knows it, what's going on -- the score you're at, the opportunity you've got. To make that putt on 16 was pretty crucial.

I had -- it was a bit of a tricky read. I had probably the best putt of the day, dead center, perfect speed. I was really proud of that.

17, look, it was -- it wasn't too hard a shot because the lie was great, to be fair. It was just sort of a long splash bunker shot. The only two things that made that tricky was an out-of-bounds fence staring me right in the face behind the pin and actually not being able to see the pin either. It was kind of tricky to judge the distance a little bit. I was very happy with how that came out for sure.

Then 18, I got free relief from the fence. I was kind of lucky; I had two relief options depending on -- I kind of got -- with the two relief options, I got a lot of wiggle room for where I could drop it. So dropped it in a pretty decent lie. Yeah, what happened from there happened from there.

Q. Lucas, will it take you long to refocus and recalibrate on the ultimate goal of winning this week?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, I think so. Luckily, I've probably got 24 hours until I tee off. I'll go get some lunch, do some gym, go home and chill out with my family. I think, by the time we wake up tomorrow morning, your focus will be back on the right stuff. I think the next 48 hours are definitely going to be stressful.

There's plenty of anxiety and whatnot with the position that I'm in, what that comes with, but I didn't enter this tournament to not experience those feelings. So I'm kind of looking forward to it.

Q. With your caddie being from this area, have you found plenty of support so far?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, it was nice to get more support for me today than Pughy. I had more Pughy shouts yesterday. The good thing about him obviously being a local is I feel like a bit of a local. I feel like there's probably some people that might have moved away from the area for a while that I might know the area better than them because of all the stories I hear out of Nick on our many trips around golf courses and whatnot.

Yeah, it's -- I mean, the energy in the crowd felt like I was a hometown boy today. I think it would be really special to win -- if I was to win here and have it happen in Pughy's hometown, would be pretty incredible.

Q. A couple quick details. You didn't say what club that was at 17.

LUCAS HERBERT: Second shot? That was a 5-iron.

Q. And what was the read on 18 that you missed?

LUCAS HERBERT: I had it sort of left half of the hole, left center. Actually probably a little -- probably inside left if we're going to split hairs here. I thought it was pretty straight at the start, moving at the end, maybe a little more on the wind as well. Wind was off the left. It kind of jagged left early and just never really had a chance.

Honestly, I'm really happy with the putt I hit. I'd love to hit it again knowing the read, but I wouldn't hit it again knowing what I knew at the time. I thought I did a pretty good job with that.

Q. You've been public about issues with some anxiety earlier in your career. How have you dealt with that, and did you feel anxious at all today?

LUCAS HERBERT: I think everyone gets anxious. It's just about dealing with it. Like I just said, I didn't sign up here to come play this tournament stress-free and cruise on through. The thing that makes winning an Open Championship so amazing is the anxiety you've got to deal with throughout the entire championship. If any player gets up here and says they're not, they're lying.

That's the fun of professional golf. That's the challenge. That's what makes it so fulfilling when you do get the results that you get. I haven't won a major yet, but I'm assuming what people feel winning a major championship is so euphoric because of the anxiety and the stress you have to deal with and still be able to execute world-class golf shots.

Q. Lucas, you're a self-confessed golf nerd. I'm sure you knew who held the record before you, Branden Grace, and we know the sporting rivalry and the history between South Africa and Australia. Was that in any way a motivation to try and beat the record?

LUCAS HERBERT: I don't think that was a motivation to break the record. It wouldn't have mattered who you put on that list of guys who shot 62, I would have wanted to beat it.

Yeah, like you said, we've got a great rivalry with South Africa. Obviously out on LIV we have a great battle with the Southern Guards as well. Those boys always push us. We had a team playoff a couple years ago in Adelaide that was really special. It's always fun when we go up against the SA boys. I wish Gracey was here to sort of have a bit more of a battle with it too.

Q. I think you've spoken in the past about trying to grow the game at home and inspire some kids. What do you think the kids Friday night in Victoria, footy's on but the golf's on at the same time, that sort of impact in terms of drawing them and hoping to inspire them, the kids back in regional Victoria?

LUCAS HERBERT: Obviously I had a lot of thoughts running through my head today, and one of them at one point is one of my earliest golf memories was my dad waking me up to watch Chad Campbell in the first round in the 2009 Masters because it looked like he had a really good chance to shoot 62 and break the record at that time.

I sort of, I thought about it, if one kid gets woken up by their parents to watch me finish this round because that's the record being broken, that would be so cool, and it would tickle me pink. I hope it happened. I hope some kid's disappointed that I shot 62 and didn't hole that putt on the last.

It felt like a little bit of a full-circle moment there, and yeah, I love going back to Australia and seeing how many kids are out there playing golf and how much the game is growing there. Even the conversations in recent times around the Australian Open, you can see how important that is as an event to the rest of the world. It makes you really proud to be an Australian, and I really hope the tournament continues to grow like everyone kind of talks about it and wants it to grow because we've got some amazing tests of golf coming down there in the next couple of years.

Kingston Heath this year, I'm really looking forward to that. Yeah, it's been a real benefit of going to LIV as well is being able to grow the game in Australia. It's something that all of us are quite passionate about.

Q. Lucas, you said you're not necessarily a guy who has a set schedule of major championships each and every year. Just curious how you approach these weeks knowing that they could be sporadic for when they come.

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, I've been fortunate this year to have two of them. Whether it's two or four, it's not going to be many of them. If the guys that are getting the full schedule of them. It's a tough balance, right? You've got to try to approach it like it's any other week, but also acknowledge the fact that it is special; it's a major championship. It's the one that everyone wants to win. It's the one that everyone is preparing and getting as sharp as they can for.

Yeah, it's always a tough balance. I think it's the same with any other challenge that I have in life. I've got a great wife, a great family to go home to, and that's not going to change regardless of how I play in these tournaments. As long as I keep that in the forefront of my mind and know that in a way it doesn't matter. You know, it does for everything on the work side of things, but I'm still going to wake up who I am on Monday regardless of what I shoot this weekend or whether I'm holding a Claret Jug or not.

It's probably just trying to keep the perspective of that that helps the most.

Q. People often talk about the hardest thing in golf is backing up a really low score. Is that something you've personally felt in your career? Any other experiences you can draw on heading into the weekend?

LUCAS HERBERT: I shot 64 to kick off the LIV Virginia event about two months ago and then backed it up with 63. So you've obviously got -- I've got that to draw off, but in the same breath, you're absolutely right, it's very hard. I think everyone's expectations goes through the roof as soon as you shoot a round like that.

Just got to try and keep it real tomorrow. A great score out there is 2- or 3-under. You can't expect to go and -- you know, there's five people that have shot 62 in the history of major championships. I'm probably a little optimistic if I think I'm going to keep adding my name to that list every day.

Yeah, just do the best I can to sort of execute what's in front of me at the time, and if I do that really, really well, the scorecard will take care of itself.

Q. Can I just ask you about that moment of the ball burning the hole for the 61? You had quite a long lead on your knees there. I think you were probably the most disappointed man to sink a putt for a 62 in that moment. Can you just talk about what's going through your head in that moment when you're leaning on your knees? Is that just sheer --

LUCAS HERBERT: Kind of just almost processing the moment a little bit. Like it wasn't -- I was obviously super disappointed, but I was more disappointed -- I was disappointed in the result, not what I did. I actually hit a lot of really, really good shots today, and that's kind of what I'm hanging my hat on.

Yeah, it was sort of processing the moment. You're stood there on 18 with a chance to right history, and it feels so close, but then it's not. It was disappointment, but in the same breath, probably more of just processing the emotion there of -- and probably knowing like what's coming the next few hours or couple of days really with adding my name to that list.

Yeah, it was -- I don't know. Just a lot of emotions all in one. It was in front of a lot of people. So you're trying to --

Q. Trying not to sort of --

LUCAS HERBERT: Well, not sway. I guess, like we said before, I'm trying to grow the game and be a role model for people in Australia. You just want to carry yourself like a role model and be someone that people can look up to.

Yeah, probably just getting it all right in your head and making sure you probably don't look at it the wrong way.

Q. Lucas, over the last kind of 12 months, it just looks like you've been really enjoying your golf out on the golf course. Would that be a fair assessment? Is that reflecting on why you're playing so well?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, I think you're right. I think -- there's a lot of factors in why I'm enjoying my golf. I'm obviously playing pretty good, which makes it a hell of a lot easier.

We've got a great team with the Ripper boys travelling and playing every week, practising together, hanging out, getting dinners. That makes it pretty easy. Travel to some pretty incredible parts of the world. That makes it pretty easy.

Yeah, you could say I really enjoy my job at the moment, and that obviously makes it easy to go out there and do what I did today. Yeah, I'm pretty fortunate -- I think I'm pretty fortunate that like I get the opportunity to do what I do. I work pretty hard for it, but I'm fortunate to have the opportunities that I do.

OLIVIA McMILLAN: Lucas, thank you very much. We appreciate your time. Best of luck with the rest of the week.