2026 British Open Round 2 updates: Big names set to battle Birkdale cut line on Friday

SOUTHPORT, England – It’s Friday at The Open Championship.

Day 1 brought plenty of intrigue at a burned-out Royal Birkdale Golf Club.

Cameron Young (3-under), Scottie Scheffler (2-under), Collin Morikawa (2-under) and Bryson DeChambeau (3-under) were the big names that went low. Hometown favorite Tommy Fleetwood (1-under) is in the mix, too. Who will make a move in the second round?

Who is at risk of missing the cut? Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose are two big names we’ll be watching on the cutline.

We will be tracking all the storylines from on-site throughout the day.

1:19 p.m.: Can Lucas Herbert set a new major championship scoring record? That has everyone's attention at the moment. Herbert just eked through the 14th and 15th holes with needed par saves. After a lights-out start, things have gotten shaky for him and he failed to take advantage of the gettable par-5 14th. Yet he's still 8-under for his day. Playing even from here would tie him with Branden Grace for the lowest score in major history (62). Grace coincidentally set that record here at Royal Birkdale in 2017. If Herbert can find a birdie, though, he could occupy a prestigious place in history all alone.

12:28 p.m.: While Herbert evokes the spirit of Branden Grace across Birkdale, Jackson Suber has finished his round 1-under for the day at 6-under outright. It was a confident showing for the debutant, who spilled out three bogeys in a row starting at the sixth hole and battled all the way back to finish better than where he started for the day thanks to a lengthy par save on the last.

Meanwhile, Collin Morikawa continues a positive round, moving it to 5-under with birdies on Nos. 2, 6 and 9.

11:48 a.m.: Lucas Herbert has broke containment Friday morning, taking the solo lead at 6-under on the back of a front-nine 28. The Australian tied the record for the lowest front-nine in the vast history of The Open, and nearly bagged another birdie at No. 10 with a lip out before securing his seventh of the day at No. 11 in an incredible heater.

Elsewhere, Eric Cole carded the best round of the week thus far with a 64, starting his day at 6-over and battling back to even par. Herbert has a chance to beat that down the stretch.

10:49 a.m.: The aforementioned Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns pairing has indeed found their footing, with those two 4-under through five holes in what has been another gettable, but hard-earned morning across the board. Another fast starter has been Ludvig Åberg, who made three birdies in a row after opening with a bogey.

Rory McIlroy has also found some solid ground, snagging his first birdie of the day at the second to push back towards red numbers. McIlroy's group with Xander Schauffele and Matt Fitzpatrick now all find themselves at 1-over, right on the early projected cut line.

10:05 a.m.: Updates coming fast and furious now. Here's a field note: James Nicholas has withdrawn before the start of the second round. Nicholas shot 5-over on Thursday.

10:00 a.m.: Prefacing this that we are still VERY early into the second round, but here's where the cutline is shaping to end up.

As of 10 a.m. local, here are the probabilities of where it will settle (via Data Golf):

• Even-par: 19.4%
• 1-over: 50.9%
• 2-over: 25.9%

Some notable names around or outside that range include Rory McIlroy (2-over), Justin Rose (5-over), Jordan Spieth (3-over), Wyndham Clark (3-over), Matt Fitzpatrick (2-over).

Also a quick shout out to Eric Cole, who shot 6-over 76 on Thursday and has worked his way back to even-par (through 14 holes). Heck of an effort.

9:44 a.m.: We already have a new name atop the leaderboard, and an Englishman at that. Matt Wallace posted a 31 going out and briefly supplanted Jackson Suber at 5-under. Suber, also out early Friday, became the first to 6-under before back-to-back bogeys knocked him back to 4-under. In a similar vein to yesterday, players in this early wave need to take advantage before any wind ramps up and makes this crispy test even trickier.

A group to watch closely is that of Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns and Adam Scott. Gotterup posted a ho-hum even round yesterday, but was sixth in the field Tee-to-Green. He was marred by some poor putting, and even got some bad breaks like hitting the flagstick on his first hole and rolling off the green. With three wins this year and a strong showing last year in the UK, he is in prime position to make a big move this morning.

9:00 a.m.: Hello from Southport. Conditions are expected to be similar to yesterday, with the morning wave playing in the ideal, less windy conditions. That should make the wave disparity minimal, which is always a talking point at The Open.

Here’s a look at the tee times to watch:

• 9:25 a.m.: Chris Gotterup, Sam Burns, Adam Scott
• 9:36 a.m.: Collin Morikawa, J.J. Spaun, Nicolai Hojgaard
• 9:58 a.m.: Cameron Young, Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Åberg
• 10:09 a.m.: Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Matt Fitzpatrick
• 12:25 p.m.: Robert MacIntyre, Alex Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler
• 12:47 p.m.: Sungjae Im, Daniel Brown, Fifa Laopakdee (a)
• 2:42 p.m.: Russell Henley, Viktor Hovland, Justin Rose
• 3:04 p.m.: Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrrell Hatton
• 3:15 p.m.: Tommy Fleetwood, Jordan Spieth, Jon Rah