Sam Burns

Should he go on to lift the Claret Jug on Sunday evening, Sam Burns will owe his agent a sizeable bonus.

Two weeks ago, the American world number 18 had all-but withdrawn from The 154th Open, with his wife heavily pregnant and due to give birth in the middle of July.

However, Brett Falkoff kept his man’s name in the hat and, after baby Belle arrived 11 days early, the Burns family decided dad was free to play.

The rest is history – and in a crazy hour of electric links golf, that is exactly what Burns created.

The 29-year-old became just the sixth man in 166 years of major championship golf to shoot a round of 62, and he deserves extra credit for style points.

Burns brilliantly chipped-in from the bunker on 18 to bring the house down.

There is nothing quite like the sound of spectators roaring at The Open and this one would have reverberated around Merseyside.

“I think it was probably last Friday that I chose to play,” said Burns.

“I thought there was zero per cent chance. Brett ... was like, ‘I'm just going to sign you up just in case’.

“I was like, ‘you can, but I'm probably not going to be able to play’. Then we ended up having Belle on July 3rd. Even then, I still wasn't expecting to play by any means.

“I had a bunch of conversations with my wife, and she encouraged me to come over here and play, and here we are.

“She's just amazing, a superhero. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be here.

“I haven't really played a whole lot of golf leading up to this.

“I didn't get here until midday on Monday, so I was just trying to get my feet under me for the first couple days.

“I don't know if there's lower expectations, but I think as a competitor, you still expect a lot out of yourself. But I definitely tried to be a little more patient with myself.”

Burns will share the back pages with Australia’s Lucas Herbert, who shot a 62 himself just 20 minutes earlier.

Herbert motored through the front nine in just 28 shots and holed six birdies in the process to raise the possibility of the first 61.

His back nine had everyone captivated, with three further birdies leaving him needing just a par on the last.

As it was, he bogeyed. But just 20 minutes behind, while everyone’s back was turned, Burns was making a charge.

He was two-under-par for his round on the front nine but then went on a birdie tear, picking up shots at 10, 11, 13, 16 and 17.

He needed a birdie at the last to join Herbert, Branden Grace, Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele (twice) in the 62 club.

When he found a greenside bunker, his chances appeared over, before conjuring one of the shots of his life.

“I had no idea it was a record until they told me up there,” he said.

“I didn't realise that was the case. I'm very pleased with it.

“The ball was in a good spot in the bunker, which you never know what you're going to get in the pot bunkers here.

“I was happy when I saw that when I walked up. It was a tricky bunker shot because I had to land it in the fringe there and use the slope down to the hole. Definitely very lucky for it to go in.”          

Burns is almost assured of a late tee time on Saturday. He is just three back from Herbert, while Jackson Suber and Cameron Young are one ahead.

The man from Louisiana has not contended at The Open before but with two major top-10s this season, including a second-place finish at the US Open, he is in form.

“I caught myself by surprise,” he said.

“I honestly feel like I played a pretty solid round of golf on Thursday.

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

After the month he has already had, everything is.