HOYLAKE, England — It was Tuesday on the practice grounds at Royal Liverpool where Bryson DeChambeau found himself entranced as he prepared for Thursday’s first round of the 151st British Open.
DeChambeau, a noted golf data nerd obsessed with swing and ball speed, wasn’t so much occupied by his own world-class game. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Christo Lamprecht.
Lamprecht, a 22-year-old amateur from South Africa, is hard to miss. He stands at 6-foot-8 and looks like he can hit the ball from Hoylake to Northwest Wales across the River Dee.
DeChambeau left his hitting area and sauntered over to look at Lamprecht’s launch monitor numbers. Two days later, now we know what the fuss was about on the part of DeChambeau.
Lamprecht, playing in his first-ever major championship, shocked the golf world by charging to the opening-round lead with a stunning 5-under-par 66.
Lamprecht, who teed off in the morning, was tied for the lead at 5-under by Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who teed off a short time after he did.
The Lamprecht performance came out of nowhere and it turned heads all over Royal Liverpool.
“I’d probably say the first tee shot was the only bit of nerves I had all day,” Lamprecht said. “I just kind of walked off the first tee box after hitting my snap hook drive and my caddie just told me, ‘Listen, you’re playing The Open as an amateur; no need to stress.’ We kind of had fun from there.’’
He had fun to the tune of seven birdied and two bogeys.
“It’s pretty surreal,’’ Lamprecht said. “It’s something I haven’t dreamt of yet, but it’s pretty cool.’’
Who is Lamprecht and how did he get here?
He’s a senior at Georgia Tech, where he is majoring in business administration and is a two-time All-American.
Out of 99 career stroke-play rounds, he’s shot par or below 70 times and is the third-ranked amateur in the world.
He was introduced to golf at age 3 by his father in South Africa.
He qualified for the Open by winning the Amateur Championship in June. The win, too, earned him spots in the 2024 US Open and Masters.
Playing alongside Dutchman Joost Luiten and fellow South African and major-championship winner Louis Oosthuizen, Lamprecht began his day by holing out from 20 feet to save par at the first hole. The magical day proceeded from there.
He said playing with Oosthuizen “helped a lot to my score today,’’ adding, “I think having someone hat I know very well and is a ginormous mentor for me that I’ve played previously with kind of helped me feel a little bit more at home and at ease. It was kind of a nice draw. I thought they rigged it by some means. But no, I loved it.’’
Asked if it was surprising to be atop the leaderboard, Lamprecht said, “As an amateur, yes, it is. But in my own head, no, it’s not. I think I’m very hard on myself, and I think I earned my spot to be here. I think the way I played today I earned to be on the top of the leaderboard, as of now.
“It’s not a cocky thing to say. I just personally think I believe in myself, and I guess stepping on to the first tee box if you’re a professional or a competitor, you should be believing that you should be the best standing there. I’m very proud of it. I’m a little bit surprised, obviously, naturally, but I’m also … I played good golf today.’’