Lucas Herbert extends lead to 6 at LIV Golf Virginia round 2

STERLING: If there were any doubts about Lucas Herbert’s first-round performance being unsustainable, he put them to rest emphatically on Friday.

The Ripper GC stalwart followed his opening 8-under 64 with a bogey-free 9-under 63 on Friday at Maaden LIV Golf Virginia 2026, extending his lead to six shots at 17-under par — the largest 36-hole lead this season and tied for the second-largest lead after two rounds in league history.

Only one player, Fireballs GC captain Sergio Garcia, is within nine strokes of Herbert’s lead.

“I don’t know if there’s a way that I can describe this that’s not going to sound super arrogant. Just things started coming to me easily,” Herbert said. “The shots that you would see into greens happened and worked the way that you saw them, and putts that you would read to break a certain way just did exactly what you kind of thought. Maybe even at times you’d hit a bad shot, and you’d have judged it wrong and the bad shot now becomes good.

“To be honest, I probably tried to enjoy it a little bit out there because I was able to in the moment see that that was happening and kind of just be able to sit back and appreciate it a little bit and understand this is pretty not normal. You don’t know how many times as a golfer you’re going to get to experience that kind of feeling.”

Herbert’s Strokes Gained Total average of +7.82 per round is a LIV Golf record for 36 holes. He gained +8.60 strokes on Friday, which is his second-best performance of his LIV Golf career, exceeded only by the +10.426 when he shot a 10-under 61 in the final round last year in Mexico City to tie for second.

“I’m going to say this golf course is probably harder than Mexico City was playing at the time,” Herbert said. “It’s