HOYLAKE, England — Christo Lamprecht stopped in the 18th fairway at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on Thursday and took a mental photograph of his name on the famed yellow leaderboard at the 151st British Open.
Everyone in the field was looking up at the 6-foot-8 South African, who is believed to be the tallest player ever to compete in golf’s oldest championship, but not for the usual reason. Lamprecht, a 22-year-old ranked third in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and playing collegiately at Georgia Tech, carded seven birdies and shot an opening-round 5-under 66 to grab a share of the lead with Englishman Tommy Fleetwood. Lamprecht smiled after the round as he described how the view from the top of the leaderboard suited him just fine.
“It’s nice to see a lot of work behind the scenes pay off,” he said. “It’s something I haven’t dreamt of yet, but it’s pretty cool.”
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Lamprecht is hard to miss, and as he surged to the top of the leaderboard, his height became a topic of conversation in the gallery. Lamprecht is as lean as a 1-iron and as light as a lamp post, which might make for a good nickname (Lamprecht the Lamp Post or simply the Lamp Post has a good ring to it.)
He only sports a size 13 shoe, but he can certainly send it off the tee, noting that his stock driver carries 320-325 yards. Still, he can bust it 340 yards in the air if need be.
“But I don’t want to. Not in this weather. Not in links golf,” he said. “It rolls far enough, so I kind of keep it in front of me.”
Color long-bombing Bryson DeChambeau impressed. He stopped to take a look at Lamprecht’s action.
“He just wished he had my length, I guess,” Lamprecht cracked.
Don’t we all. Stewart Cink, the 2009 Open champion and a Georgia Tech alum, has hit balls next to Lamprecht on several occasions at the school’s practice facility in Atlanta and offered this assessment:
“As a 50-year-old golfer seeing a guy like him, he is pretty much like your basic nightmare, watching a guy like him coming up,” Cink said. “He’s got a lot of really good potential in front of him.”
At 6-foot-4, Lamprecht’s father, an accountant by trade, is shortest of the past five generations. His great grandpa measured an even 7 feet. Lamprecht played on South Africa’s junior national team but gave it up to pursue golf early in high school. That’s also about the time he went through a growth spurt.
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