Christo Lamprecht (R&A Twitter)
In the final three rounds of the Open Championship, Christo Lamprecht could never match the round that earned him the top of the leaderboard and the attention of fans and the media on Thursday.
But the tall South African will leave the week with a tremendous amount of experience and a close look at what it takes to compete with the world’s best both on and off the course. He got to the sleep on the lead of a major championship after his 5-under first-round 66. Then, he survived a brush with potentially missing the cut and earned his spot on the weekend despite an 8-over 79 on Friday.
After Saturday’s 76 and his final round 74, Lamprecht earned the silver medal as the low amateur, and in just over a month, played some of the best golf of his life in Northwest England after
winning the Amateur Championship at Hillside Golf Club.
Lamprecht is the first player since Jin Jeong in 2010 to win the Amateur and silver medal at The Open in the same year. That year, Jeong
shot 4-under at St. Andrews to finish T14.
“I think there's a lot of things to take away from it, but it's nice to know that my good golf is good enough to compete with anyone in the world,” Lamprecht said. “And that's something really nice to take away from this week and kind of motivates me to keep on playing better golf and keep on practicing.”
He will attempt to win the U.S. Amateur in August at Cherry Hills before heading back to Georgia Tech for his senior year, where at 6’, 8” he is believed to be the tallest player in program history. And like fellow Georgia Tech alum Bobby Jones in 1930, he has had a nice run at Royal Liverpool. Maybe not the Claret Jug, but a silver medal isn’t bad.
SATURDAY UPDATE
It's not the big numbers that have hurt first-round leader Christo Lamprecht at Royal Liverpool in the second and third rounds of the British Open.
In fact, he hadn't made more than a bogey in the first two rounds. But they add up quickly, especially when there aren't enough birdies to offset them (he didn't make any on Friday).
Today, after rounds of 66-79, Lamprecht started strong, going 1-under through the first seven holes.
Like Friday, a string of three-straight bogeys from Nos. 8-10 put the South African back over par on the day and headed in the wrong direction. But a towering drive on the 11th -- covering over 370 yards -- followed by a short chip to inside of ten feet led to an easy birdie putt. Unfortunately, that would be his last birdie hole of the round. And things were about to get worse.
Lamprecht managed pars on Nos. 12 and 13, but double-bogeyed the difficult 14th. The round concluded with a double-bogey on the 18th, where his tee shot carried over 372 yards, but his second shot went out of bounds. Struggling in the rough, he finally finished with double bogey seven, resulting in a 5-over 76 for the round and bringing his tournament total to 8-over 221, securing a 76th position after 54 holes. That's the bottom of the leaderboard among those players who survived the cut.
But as the only amateur to play the weekend, Lamprecht will receive the silver medal alongside the Champion Golfer of the Year after he enjoys watching the final groups finish on Sunday. We can think of about 100 million golfers who would like to be in the same position.
ROUND TWO REPORT
22-year-old South African Christo Lamprecht -- the overnight co-leader with Englishman Tommy Fleetwood and Argentina's Emiliano Grillo, struggled to an 8-over 79 at Royal Liverpool today.
But the news isn't all bad.
Lamprecht may not have come close to shooting the 5-under 66 he posted on Thursday, but he will be around on the weekend. And while he hopes to improve his standing, no matter what happens he will collect the silver medal, since he was the only amateur to make the 36-hole cut.
Standing tall at 6'8", the Georgia Tech senior had an unforgettable start yesterday, shooting a remarkable 5-under 66. His outstanding performance not only established him as a frontrunner but also earned him the distinction of being only the second amateur in the past 50 years to hold at least a share of the lead after the first round of The Open. The last golfer to achieve this feat was Paul Dunne in 2015.
Bobby Jones, who also played at Georgia Tech, was the last amateur to lead after the first round in an Open at Royal Liverpool. That was in 1930 - the year he won the Grand Slam.
Despite a remarkable performance with seven birdies in his first round, Lamprecht faced a challenging day today, unable to secure even a single birdie. His scorecard displayed ten pars against eight bogeys, resulting in a finish of 8-over 79 for the day. This disappointing outcome can be attributed to his poor drives, as he averaged 308 yards off the tee but hit only 14.3% of the fairways during his round.
His total score precisely matched the 36-hole projected cut set at 3-over 145, placing him at T-63rd, indicating a significant drop of 62 spots from his opening round.
Ranked 10th on the Amateur Golf Rankings, Lamprecht earned his coveted spot in the British Open by achieving victory in the esteemed Amateur Championship held at Hillside in Southport, England, just over an hour's distance from Royal Liverpool, on June 24th.
Revisit his first day heroics
here.
Following are the positions of the other five amateurs at the British Open:
Jose Luis Ballester - T-85th (5-over)
Mateo Fernández De Oliveira - T-110th (7-over)
Tiger Christensen - T-123rd (9-over)
Alex Maguire - T-133rd (10-over)
Harrison Crowe - T-148th (14-over)
ABOUT THE British Open
The most coveted trophy in the game and one
of the most iconic in all of sport: more
commonly referred to as the Claret Jug.
Within
minutes of winning the British Open, the
"Champion Golfer of the Year" gets his name
engraved on that cup, and a place in golfing
history.
Amateurs have played an
important role in the tournament over the
years, with players like Sergio Garcia, Justin
Rose, and more recently Alfie Plant stepping
into the international limelight with their
golfing
performances.
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