THE FLATS – It’s Masters week! Georgia Tech has only one representative in the field for the first major championship of 2024, and it’s amateur Christo Lamprecht, Yellow Jacket senior from George, South Africa. Enjoy more great stories that have been written on the 6-foot-8 All-American in various golf publications in the run-up.
TOWERING GOLFER CHRISTO LAMPRECHT SWINGS FOR MASTERS HISTORY
Towering success and expectations follow the 23-year-old amateur into his Masters debut. He’s determined to enjoy the moment.
Christo Lamprecht Sr. kept getting interrupted – by texts, calls and co-workers in the office who saw what was happening.
“I’m busy,” Lamprecht Sr. told them. “What’s so interesting?”
They implored him to check The Open’s leaderboard. That’s when it became clear.
“Oh, my goodness,” he said.
Some 8,500 miles away in Hoylake, England, his college-aged son was setting the golf world ablaze.
Who is this kid? Where did he come from? How is he doing this? At The Open Championship, of all places?
Lamprecht Sr. quickly caught up on the highlights. He saw his son, also named Christo, make routine birdies on Nos. 3 and 5, and hit his approach shot on the par-3 sixth to 4 feet. He watched the chip-in birdie on the 14th and one last one on the closing hole. The younger Lamprecht doffed his cap to the crowd and soaked in the moment as he walked off the 18th green, then signed for a 66 that no one could better on the opening day at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. The senior Lamprecht, an accountant back in his hometown of George, a coastal city in South Africa’s Western Cape, shook his head.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” he said.
Amateur Christo Lamprecht of South Africa smiles with the silver medal awarded for low amateur honors following the final round of The 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. (Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR)
That Thursday at Royal Liverpool was Lamprecht’s “Hello world” moment. He didn’t sustain the remarkable play, but the golf world was introduced to another young phenom that day, one who amazed with the power produced by his 6-foot-8 frame.