Crisis averted.
As Lucas Herbert marched toward potentially the lowest round in major-championship history Friday at Royal Birkdale, his caddie, Nick Pugh, was shown on TV looking through a rangefinder on the 14th tee.
Immediately, the Sky Sports commentators began discussing the perceived violation.
Distance-measuring devices are prohibited at the Open Championship, though as the broadcast soon clarified, Pugh’s rangefinder did not have batteries, and the caddie was merely using the rangefinder like binoculars, which is allowed.
Herbert went out in a record-tying, 6-under 28 on Friday morning before birdieing Nos. 11 and 12 to get to 8 under. He ended up parring the par-5 14th and was still 8 under with four holes to play.
Branden Grace’s 8-under 62 at Birkdale in 2017 is the Open’s 18-hole scoring record.