Paramus, N.J. – Georgia Tech golfers Bartley Forrester and Christo Lamprecht were eliminated in the round of 32 Thursday at the 122nd United States Amateur Championship at Ridgewood Country Club.
Forrester saw his ultra-successful summer season come to an end with a 3&2 loss to Luke Potter of Encinitas, Calif., the nation’s No. 4-ranked junior who will be a freshman at Arizona State this fall. Lamprecht, who will represent his native South Africa in the World Amateur Team Championship at the end of August, lost a tight match, 1-up, to Alex Price of Hillsboro, Va.
Ranked No. 75 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Forrester quickly fell behind by dropping his first three holes to Potter, who birdied 1 and 3, and was unable to recover. The Tech senior battled back by winning five holes, but never drew closer than two holes the rest of the way. The players halved only two holes in the match, including the par-4 16th, where the match ended.
Lamprecht, who tied for sixth place in the 36-hole stroke play portion of the championship, also fell behind early by two holes as Price, a senior at Christopher Newport College, made birdies at 1 and 3. But the world’s No. 43-ranked amateur won the fourth hole with a par and rallied to take the lead, 1-up, with birdies at 6 and 7. The players halved the next six holes before Price birdied 14 and 15 to retake the lead. Lamprecht made birdie 16 to square the match, but Price answered with a birdie at 17 to regain the advantage. Both players parred the last, and Price came away with the 1-up triumph.
Four Yellow Jackets have won the U.S. Amateur, most recently in 2019 and 2020 when Andy Ogletree and Tyler Strafaci won in back-to-back years. Matt Kuchar won the championship in 1997, and Bobby Jones was crowned five times between 1924 and 1930.
The six days of competition continue Friday with quarterfinal matches, followed by semifinals Saturday and the 36-hole championship match on Sunday. All matches through the final are taking place at Ridgewood Country Club and are covered live on NBC, Golf Channel and Peacock streaming service.
Following Lamprecht’s participation in the World Amateur Team Championship, the Yellow Jackets will regroup on campus and prepare for their fall schedule, which begins Sept. 9-11 with the Maui Jim Intercollegiate in Scottsdale, Ariz.