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HOYLAKE, England — It was Tuesday, on the practice grounds at Royal Liverpool, and Bryson DeChambeau found himself entranced as he prepared for Thursday and the first round of the 151st British Open.
DeChambeau, a noted 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 22-year-old South African amateur Christo Lamprecht.
Lamprecht is hard to miss.
He stands 6-foot-8 and looks as if he could 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.
Lamprecht, playing in his first-ever major championship, shocked the golf world by charging to the opening-round lead Thursday with a stunning 5-under 66.
Lamprecht will enters the second round on Friday tied for the lead with Englishman Tommy Fleetwood and Argentinian Emiliano Grillo.
Little-known Frenchman Antoine Rozner, Spaniard Adrian Otaegui and American Brian Harman are one shot back at 4-under.
U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, Stewart Cink and Max Homa are among those who are two back at 3-under.
6’6” British Amateur champion Christo Lamprecht’s golf swing is pretty cool.
Ultra strong grip. Left knee sort of buckles as he moves into it on the downswing.
192 ball speed here pic.twitter.com/F05OBgHz9c
— LKD (@LukeKerrDineen) July 19, 2023A number of the game’s stars are lurking not far behind, with Jordan Spieth 2-under, and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, PGA champion Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay among the players who are 1-under.
At the end of the day, though, 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 birdies 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 and a two-time All-American at Georgia Tech, where he’s majoring in business administration.
He’s the third-ranked amateur in the world and was introduced to golf at age 3 by his father.
He qualified for the Open by winning the British Amateur Championship in June.
That win also earned him spots in the 2024 Masters and U.S. Open.
Playing alongside Joost Luiten and fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen, Lamprecht began his day by holing out from 20 feet to save par on the first hole.
The magic proceeded from there.
He said playing with Oosthuizen “helped a lot to my score today,’’ adding, “I think having someone that 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.’’
Oosthuizen, who won the 2010 British Open, took eight more strokes than Lamprecht, who came through Oosthuizen’s academy as a teenager.
“He did everything right,’’ Oosthuizen said. “He hit the ball really well and then when he was in trouble, he sort of just got himself back in play. He rolls the ball beautiful on the greens so it was fun to watch. He’s got game.’’
Oosthuizen joked that when Lamprecht came to his academy at about age 14, he was already taller than him.
Lamprecht said height runs in the family, with his 6-4 father the shortest of the last five generations.
“My grandfather was like 6-8 and great grandfather like 7-foot,’’ Lamprecht said.
Cink, who went to Georgia Tech, lives in Atlanta and has practiced with Lamprecht, was an interested observer on Thursday.
“I was actually having fun watching him because he was the group in front of me,’’ Cink said “I am happy for him. We know each other because I practice at their place down in Atlanta, so I see them all the time. He’s got a lot of game, so I’m not surprised that he had a good one today. He may feature in this thing later on, too.’’
Fleetwood recalled watching Lamprecht win the British Am at Hillside, which is near where Fleetwood is from, on TV with his kids.
“Funny our game,’’ Fleetwood said. “My boys wanted to watch the British Amateur. What a great round today. Sort of seeing an amateur’s name up on the leaderboard is always something that’s so special about major championships or anything like that. You’re watching somebody’s career start to blossom.’’
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 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.’’
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