British Open's 6'8" Silver Medalist Leaves With Lessons Learned
HOYLAKE, England — Christo Lamprecht was the belle of the ball when tied for the lead after the first round of the British Open, and it was enough to get him to the weekend and the silver medal for low amateur.
“I guess I told my caddie yesterday it's been a week with every bit of emotion felt, kind of coming off a high on Thursday and just not having it the last three days," said the 22-year-old from South Africa said after a final-round 74 at Royal Liverpool.
“I felt like kind of in control of the golf ball not nearly as well as I wanted to or as I know I can be. It was a little bit disappointing, but obviously standing here being the last amateur standing and getting the silver medal this afternoon, yeah, it puts a smile back on my face.”
The first silver medal was awarded in 1949 at Royal St. George’s to American strongman Frank Stranahan and since has been awarded to a who’s who in golf: Sir Michael Bonallack in 1968 and 1971, Jose Maria Olazabal in 1985, Tiger Woods in 1996, Rory McIlroy in 2007 and Matthew Fitzpatrick in 2013.
On his way back to Georgia Tech for his last year before turning professional, the lanky 6’8" Lamprecht will take a lot of memories and lessons learned from four days of what has been hard work due mostly to the weather, which on the weekend tested even the best players.
“I think there's a lot of things to take away from, but it's nice to know that my good golf is good enough to compete with anyone in the world,” Lamprecht said. “And that's something really nice to take away from this week and kind of motivates me to keep on playing better golf and keep on practicing.”
Paired with Masters champion Danny Willett in the final round, Lamprecht—who finished 11 over for the championship, T74 of 76 playing the weekend—was still learning till the end.
“I think just the way they kind of manage themselves on the golf course and how they play and how smart they play,” Lamprecht said. “I just think there's a lot of consistency, and I think that was definitely lacking for me this week. Not saying that I don't have it, but my consistency was definitely not there this week. It was kind of all over the place swing-wise. That's something I definitely need to focus on.”