THE 154TH OPEN

July 18, 2026

Lucas Herbert

Mixed Zone

Q. Thoughts about how things panned out today?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, just a lot of thoughts. I had somewhat of a shaky start and then consolidated really nicely through the middle. Had it in a nice position through 14 and couldn't capitalise coming in late. Obviously with 4-iron in hand coming into 14, would have liked to make birdie there. Then 16, hit a great shot there and just five yards too much. We go from a pretty short birdie putt to a bogey.

Yeah, it's frustrating stuff I'll learn, but got a lot of positive things to roll into tomorrow, and if I can build off that momentum that I kind of got off the last two holes there, scrambling to make a couple pars, then hopefully I can use that and play some golf tomorrow.

Q. The discussion on 17 with the rules official, can you take us through that? Is that in the top 10 shots you've ever hit, that third shot?

LUCAS HERBERT: Well, obviously the two club lengths was right on the edge of where I could get a swing and get a decent lie, and it was like -- we were literally arguing over a foot, but it was pretty important in the whole grand scheme of things.

Yeah, it all sort of worked out in the end, and I felt like they had so many different opinions of what was wrong, but eventually we sort of got there. Yeah, that shot, I kind of got a feeling when the ball sort of went down where I was, I was like, I feel like I can hit something really special here and try to get some momentum swinging back the other way. I had just made two bogeys. It was one of those shots you stood over, this is either going to be unbelievable or this could be the end of my tournament sort of thing, if I hit it straight into the bulrushes in front of me and run up some kind of double-digit score on that hole.

I'm happy it came off. Yeah, I think that slots into the top 10 of shots that I've hit.

Q. What was the club and yardage?

LUCAS HERBERT: I hit 3-iron. We had 238, but it's working off Pythagorus' theorem, so it could be somewhere in a 10-yard range of that.

Q. And then 18 as well, a similar discussion with the rules. Just TIO on the grandstand --

LUCAS HERBERT: It was actually a TIO on the fence. But I don't know whether I was comprehending it wrong or it was just explained wrong. I'm really not sure. I thought for a minute I was getting a TIO drop and then I was getting relief from an actual interference with my swing, which are kind of two different things.

Yeah, it was kind of confusing. We got there in the end. Yeah, hit a really nice shot on the green there and managed to escape with a par.

I saw where my ball finished and I was like, I would have liked this 24 hours ago.

Q. You talked about the scrambling, the momentum. How satisfying is it to be able to scramble when you're in that sort of back-against-the-wall type situation with the momentum going the other way?

LUCAS HERBERT: Yeah, if you look at how I've hit driver, I've basically made a career off scrambling, so it's nothing new to me. But I think links scrambling is so much fun. We walk to the chipping green every day with about six different clubs. Normally you'd walk to the chipping green with a lob wedge and maybe a sand wedge. That's what makes links golf amazing is the variety of shots that you have, the imagination you can use.

Yeah, I love it. I think that's probably why out of all the majors, my results in The Open have been better than -- not that I've had amazing results in the majors, but I think my results have been better than any others.

Q. Talk about the importance on 5 of getting out of that bunker because you were analyzing that shot for a long time and your round got going after that.

LUCAS HERBERT: We talk about how amazing links golf is. You just get in spots where it's like playing chess and you're three moves away from checkmate, and you're like I can see it coming and there's nothing I can do.

You're in a spot where there was very, very few shots that I could hit that was going to get me into a better position than where I was, and I was not in a good position to begin with.

Some people hate it some people love it. That's what's amazing about links golf is having the creativity to still be able to play those shots. I felt like I was pretty happy to get out of that one with a 4 when you see where that ball has finished.

It's not a good sign when from 100 yards away from the fairway you're watching the on-course commentators kind of going -- you know, giving it that one. You're like, this is not going to be good. Yeah, it was a fun one.

Q. Are there any chances with three back, one to play, of winning the whole thing?

LUCAS HERBERT: I think Sam Burns is going to be a man possessed. Given his results in majors and him not winning one, I think he's going to be very tough to beat. I'm not thrilled about giving him a three-shot head start, but we are where we are.

Yeah, I mean, I'd love to play my second best round of the week tomorrow, shoot under par, get myself in with a look. I've loved all the feelings this week of being in contention and competing.

Obviously yesterday shooting 62 and all the emotions that that brought out of you, trying to finish that round off. I can only imagine it's going to be similar if you're in contention to win tomorrow.

I just want to experience that because that's the stuff I grew up dreaming of doing and what I play the game for.

Q. When you reloaded on 17, did you think that was tournament over given potentially you didn't know where your ball was?

LUCAS HERBERT: I didn't reload. No, I didn't think it was tournament over. I don't know, I just had a bit of an aggressive streak there on that 17th. I was chasing that drive. I wanted to make eagle and get into that final group and be right there. It didn't work out, but I was still able to show off that kind of aggressive side with that second shot.

It would have been easy to pull out an 8-iron and hit it up the fairway and try and scramble for a par. Obviously took the aggressive approach trying to make 4.

Q. What score is it going to take tomorrow? Do you think it might be a 63, 64 needed to win?

LUCAS HERBERT: I don't know. It's tricky, I don't know what the weather is going to be like overnight. Pughy had the umbrella in the bag today, which is rare, because he's usually quick to drop that if there's zero chance of rain. There might be some rain around. I'm not sure. That changes things if it softens the course.

I don't know what the wind is going to look like tomorrow either. Give me another 62 and I'll take it right now. Look, Sam is not going to go away. It's going to take some chasing down to catch him. But I've seen what I was able to produce over the last three days, and it's not something that's out of reach for me.

Q. Your teammate (indiscernible) four weeks ago --

LUCAS HERBERT: We may have drawn comparisons on that walking to the 18th tee today, me and Pughy. I think he played two great rounds to start off the week, struggled Saturday. I think he shot 64 Sunday to get it done.

I'd like some crossovers there if that were to work out. It would be a nice little story to go with it, wouldn't it.