Lucas Herbert holds a two-shot lead after an extraordinary second round at The Open, where two players equalled major history and Bryson DeChambeau was involved in a controversial ruling.

DeChambeau had his strategy questioned pre-tournament and arrived looking to avoid the ‘Bryson Slam’ of missing every major cut, with the two-time major champion responding by following an opening-round 67 with a birdie-birdie finish to a four-under 66.

It lifted him to seven under and within a shot of Lucas Herbert, who equalled the lowest round in men’s major history despite bogeying the final hole of an eight-under 62, only for a lengthy rules review seeing DeChambeau handed a two-shot penalty for inadvertently improving his lie at the fifth.

Herbert leads Jackson Suber, Cameron Young and Sam Burns, who matched the Australian’s 62, while a visibly frustrated DeChambeau dropped back to five under and three off the halfway lead.

A star-studded leaderboard sees world No 1 Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm, Bob MacIntyre, Matt Wallace and Alex Fitzpatrick all within four of the halfway lead, as McIlroy sits seven behind after a three-under 67.

DeChambeau drama dominates after historic day

Two-time major champion DeChambeau returned to the par-four fifth with officials post-round to protest the decision, which was only officially confirmed over 70 minutes after he had walked off the 18th hole.

DeChambeau’s initially bogey on the hole was turned into a triple-bogey seven and dropped him to a two-under 68, leaving him tied-fifth heading into the weekend and turning to social media to say how ‘disappointed’ by the decision.

In a statement, R&A Referee Grant Moir said: “Bryson has been penalised two strokes for inadvertently improving the area of his intended backswing on the fifth hole when he was playing his second shot.

“Rule 8.1 restricts what a player may do to improve any of the protected conditions affecting the stroke, and this includes the area of the player’s intended swing.

“So an improvement means to alter one or more of the conditions affecting the stroke so that the player gains a potential advantage for the stroke. I’ll stress that this applies even when the action is accidental, as it was in Bryson’s case.”

Herbert and Burns match major history in record round

Six birdies in the first nine holes saw Herbert reach the turn in 28 and equal the lowest front-nine in major history, with back-to-back birdies from the 11th and another at the 16th taking him to nine under and put more records under threat.

Herbert failed to take advantage of the par-five 17th despite finding the fairway off the tee, going way left with his approach and missing a 10-foot birdie putt, then failed to convert a five-foot par putt at the last to become the first male to card a ’61 round’.

“It was very cool to experience that, and the nerves coming down the stretch,” Herbert told Sky Sports. “I felt the energy, everyone wanted it to happen and I felt like I kind of let everyone down, as everyone wanted to be part of watching that.

The Australian’s round was just the sixth 62 in men’s major history but was equalled less than 30 minutes later by Burns, who produced a three-birdie finish – including a 20-footer at the par-five 17th and bunker hole-out at the par-four last – to also get to eight under.

“I thought coming into the day if I could get it to red numbers for the golf tournament, that would be a pretty good spot,” Burns said. “I think the finish there the last three holes was just a bonus.”

Overnight leader Suber added a one-under 69 to ensure a Saturday pairing with Herbert, while Young and Gerard carded matching 67s to also get to six under ahead of Burns and DeChambeau.

McIlroy mixed four birdies with a lone bogey in an improved second-round 67, including him driving the par-four ninth green for the second successive day, with home favourite Fleetwood on the same score after birdieing three of his last five holes.

Just nine strokes separated all 78 players who made the cut, with PGA champion Aaron Rai (+2), US Open winner Wyndham Clark (+3), Justin Rose (+3), Matt Fitzpatrick (+4) and 2017 champion Jordan Spieth (+10) among those to make an early exit.

When is The Open live on Sky Sports?

Sky Sports is once again the exclusive home of The Open in the UK and Ireland, with wall-to-wall action from the final men’s major of the year throughout the weekend on Sky Sports Golf.

‘Saturday at The Open’ will kick off the third-round coverage from 9am on Sky Sports Golf, with early play on Sky Sports+ and the Sky Sports App ahead of full coverage on Sky Sports Golf from 11am.

Featured Groups will also be available on Sky Sports+ or the Sky Sports App, with coverage then starting for Sunday’s final round from 8am on Sunday on Sky Sports Golf.

Get the best prices and book a round at one of 1,700 courses across the UK & Ireland

Pairings and tee times for the third round of The 154th Open, held at Royal Birkdale in Southport, Merseyside.

Bryson DeChambeau is set to tee off at 3.30pm on Saturday afternoon alongside Sam Burns, but it remains to be seen if the American will choose to play his third round at The Open.

After climbing the leaderboard to go to seven under par following a spectacular second-round 68, DeChambeau was penalised two shots by the rules officials after appearing to improve his lie when he found the rough with his tee shot on the fifth hole.

Overnight leader Lucas Herbert will tee off in the final group alongside American Jackson Suber at 3.50pm, with Cameron Young and Ryan Gerard set to tee off before them at 3.40pm.

Scottie Scheffler, meanwhile, struggled to make birdies on Friday, with the world No 1 ending his second round at four under par, and will tee off alongside 2018 Open Champion Francesco Molinari. Rory McIlroy shot a much-improved second round 67 to move to one under par and will tee off at 12.20pm, alongside Jacob Bridgeman.

Saturday’s R3 pairings and UK start times

All times BST; USA unless stated; (x) denotes amateur

0910 Jack McDonald (Sco), Russell Henley

0920 Min Woo Lee (Aus), Ryo Hisatune (Jpn)

0930 Jose Luis Ballester Barrio (Esp), Kazuki Higa (Jpn)

0940 Marcus Plunkett, Naoyuki Kataoka (Jpn)

0950 Peter Uihlein, Brooks Koepka

1000 Aldrich Potgieter (Rsa), Keegan Bradley

1010 Alex Noren (Swe), Alex Smalley

1020 Rickie Fowler, Max Homa

1030 Ryan Fox (Nzl), Xander Schauffele

1045 Kristoffer Reitan (Nor), Marco Penge (Eng)

1055 Casey Jarvis (Rsa), Kurt Kitayama

1105 Laurie Canter (Eng), Sahith Theegala

1115 Michael Brennan, Eugenio Chacarra (Esp)

1125 Eric Cole, MJ Daffue (Rsa)

1135 Kazuma Kobori (Nzl), Nick Taylor (Can)

1145 Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)

1155 Ben Griffin, Hennie du Plessis (Rsa)

1210 Andy Sullivan (Eng), Patrick Cantlay

1220 Jacob Bridgeman, Rory McIlroy (NIrl)

1230 Jesper Svensson (Swe), Shaun Norris (Rsa)

1240 John Parry (Eng), Michael Thorbjornsen

1250 Jordan Smith (Eng), Sungjae Im (Kor)

1300 Matthew Southgate (Eng), Nico Echavarria (Col)

1310 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Den), Collin Morikawa

1320 Adam Scot (Aus), Chris Gotterup

1335 Patrick Reed, Johnny Keefer

1345 Corey Conners (Can), Sepp Straka (Aut)

1355 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Victor Perez (Fra)

1405 Daniel Brown (Eng), Cameron John (Aus)

1415 Ludvig Åberg (Swe), Shane Lowry (Ire)

1425 JJ Spaun, Pierceson Coody

1435 Jon Rahm (Esp), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)

1445 Scottie Scheffler, Francesco Molinari (Ita)

1500 Alex Fitzpatrick (Eng), Robert MacIntyre (Sco)

1510 Thomas Detry (Bel), Bud Cauley

1520 Matt Wallace (Eng), Si Woo Kim (Kor)

1530 Bryson DeChambeau, Sam Burns

1540 Ryan Gerard, Cameron Young

1550 Jackson Suber, Lucas Herbert (Aus)

When is The Open live on Sky Sports?

Sky Sports is once again the exclusive home of The Open in the UK and Ireland, with wall-to-wall action from the final men’s major of the year throughout the weekend on Sky Sports Golf.

‘Saturday at The Open’ will kick off the third-round coverage from 9am on Sky Sports Golf, with early play on Sky Sports+ and the Sky Sports App ahead of full coverage on Sky Sports Golf from 11am.

Featured Groups will also be available on Sky Sports+ or the Sky Sports App, with coverage then starting for Sunday’s final round from 8am on Sunday on Sky Sports Golf.

Get the best prices and book a round at one of 1,700 courses across the UK & Ireland

Zach Eckersley scored a hat-trick to help Wigan to a hard fought 24-10 victory over rock-bottom Huddersfield in the Betfred Super League.

The Giants were looking to snap an 11-game losing run and made a dream start against the second-placed Warriors when Taane Milne ran over in the corner to put them 4-0 up.

Their lead lasted just seven minutes as Wigan scored their first try. Adam Keighran was able to combine with Oliver Partington, who showed quick feet before stretching down.

Warriors extended their lead on the half-hour when Keighran and Harry Smith attacked down the right and a pass to Eckersley sent him over the whitewash for his first of the night.

Huddersfield hauled themselves level in the 56th minute, excellently working the ball from left to right and Jacob Gagai was able to burst through and make it 10-10.

The home side thought they were in front when they broke through George Flanagan. He found Gagai who gave the ball to Niall Evalds to cross the try line, but the referee ruled it out for a forward pass in the build-up.

They were punished a couple of minutes later when the Warriors won a Captain’s Challenge for a high tackle on George Marsden and Keighran kicked two points to nudge them in front.

Wigan sealed victory late in the game. Eckersley twice went over in the final five minutes to seal his hat-trick and send the points back with the Warriors.

Campbell stars in Saints victory

Youngster Jack Campbell scored twice on his debut as St Helens defeated Catalans Dragons 34-18 in the Betfred Super League.

Depleted Saints were thumped by Toulouse last time out but their next generation starred at the BrewDog Stadium to condemn Catalans to a fourth straight loss.

The visitors made the better start and took advantage of Jack Welsby being down injured to score the opening try in the eighth minute, with Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet breaking down the left before finding Charlie Staines.

St Helens drew level 10 minutes later as Jed Cartwright superbly took a kick one-handed before touching down against the team coached by his father John.

Nick Cotric applied the finishing touch on the half-hour mark as Catalans moved back in front, and the visitors thought they had scored twice more before half-time but Lewis Dodd was ruled to have knocked on, while Ben Condon took a forward pass.

And Catalans were quickly made to regret those missed opportunities as Saints hit them with a three-try blitz within eight minutes of the restart.

First Tristan Sailor’s clever flicked pass behind his back set Campbell away, then Tom Humphreys kicked through for Harry Robertson to touch down before Welsby ran in under the posts after a great break from Humphreys.

Catalans responded quickly as Cotric acrobatically touched down in the corner but Campbell, who also made two try-saving tackles, extended the lead to 10 points with his second and 20-year-old Robertson added the final score in the last minute.

Super League 2026 – upcoming key dates

• Rivals Round reversed: July 23-July 26
• Elimination Play-offs: September 19-September 20
• Play-off semi-finals: September 26-September 27
• Grand Final: October 3

Sky Sports will show every game of the Super League live this season, including two matches each round exclusively live. The remaining five matches will be broadcast on Sky Sports+.