Sports

The Open 2026: day two golf updates from Royal Birkdale – live

Scott Murray (now) and David Tindall (later) · July 17, 2026

Source: US sports | The Guardian · Read on source site

️Updates from the second round at Royal Birkdale ️Official leaderboard | Mail Scott with your thoughts

>Suber seems to be enjoying discovering life on this side of the pond. He’d never been to Europe before, but has travelled “pretty much everywhere in Latin American and Canada”. He thinks the UK is “awesome … the golf is really cool, and just the towns, how the train system works.” He went into Liverpool earlier this week with pal Pierceson Coody and partners. “That was really cool to see a European city.” And when he was asked why he’s not going to try driving on the other side of the road, he gave a reply as tinder-dry as the Birkdale rough: “Because I’m trying to make it here for four days.”

>Now then, our 18-hole leader Jackson Suber. Or to give him his full name, John Weatherington Suber III. He’s 26 years old, from Tampa, Florida, and is in his second year on the PGA Tour since moving up from the Korn Ferry. His best finish to date is the tie for fourth at this year’s Canadian Open that got him into this championship. He subsequently missed the cut at the US Open, and only played his first round of links golf this Monday. And now he’s bidding to become the 11th player to win the Open on debut. For the record, here are the other ten …

>Willie Park Sr (Prestwick) 1860

Tom Kidd (St Andrews) 1873

Mungo Park (Musselburgh) 1874

Jock Hutchison (St Andrews) 1921

Denny Shute (St Andrews) 1933

Ben Hogan (Carnoustie) 1953

Tony Lema (St Andrews) 1964

Tom Watson (Carnoustie) 1975

Ben Curtis (Royal St George’s) 2003

Collin Morikawa (Royal St George’s) 2021