SA amateur Christo Lamprecht one of three co-leaders at British Open
South African amateur Christo Lamprecht and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood set the early pace, and Argentina's Emiliano Grillo made a monster putt to tie them for the clubhouse lead at the British Open on Thursday at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England.
At five-under 66, the trio was one shot ahead of Antoine Rozner of France, Adrian Otaegui of Spain and American Brian Harman, with a pack of big names giving chase at the final Major championship of the year.
Lamprecht, a 22-year-old senior at Georgia Tech, won the Amateur Championship last month not far from Liverpool to qualify for the Open. His round Thursday morning featured seven birdies, including a chip-in from the fairway at the par-four 14th.
Fleetwood, a home-crowd favourite who grew up about 50km from the course, sank three straight birdies at numbers 14-16 — punctuated by a 26-footer at the 16th — to post a four-under 32 on the back nine and tie Lamprecht.
“Such a special opportunity to play so close to home, to have that support and play an Open,” Fleetwood said. “Glad I gave them some good golf to watch.”
The last time an Englishman won The Open on English soil was Tony Jacklin in 1969. And only three amateurs have ever won The Open — the last being Bobby Jones in 1930.
“It's pretty surreal,” Lamprecht said. “It's nice to see a lot of work behind the scenes pay off. It's something I haven't dreamt of yet, but it's pretty cool.”
The 6-foot-9 (just over 2m) Lamprecht had the fortune of playing the first two rounds with a fellow South African he counts as a “ginormous mentor” — Louis Oosthuizen, who won the 2010 Open in surprise fashion.
“I think that helped a lot to my score today,” Lamprecht said. "... It was kind of a nice draw. I thought they rigged it by some means, but no, I loved it.”
Grillo tied the lead during the afternoon wave by going five-under over his final eight holes. He had trouble at the par-five 18th before draining a 51-foot uphill birdie putt to become a co-leader.
The Open offered up its usual buffet of links-style golf, with slopes and false fronts feeding golf balls into one of 82 pot bunkers.
European golfers like Rozner and Otaegui seemed to benefit, with Otaegui rolling in four birdies over his final seven holes.
US Open champion Wyndham Clark and 50-year-old Stewart Cink were tied at three under with Sweden's Alex Noren and World No. 8 Max Homa, who still had four holes to play.
Englishman Matthew Jordan, 27, has been a member at Royal Liverpool since age seven and had the honour of hitting the first tee shot of the championship before completing a round of 69. Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth was also part of the group at two under, despite a double bogey at No. 8 and a bogey at the par-five 18th that counteracted five birdies.
A large tie at one-under 70 included PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Patrick Reed and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama. Defending Open champ Cameron Smith of Australia opened with a one-over 72.
-Field Level Media
