Amateur Christo Lamprecht Among 3 Atop British Open Leaderboard

Doug Ferguson - Associated Press

HOYLAKE, England — Thursday's British Open proved once again that, after 163 years, golf's oldest championship can still hold some surprises.

It started at the flagpole with Christo Lamprecht, the tallest and shortest South African amateur, opening the last six holes with a three-hole 5-over 66 to become the first amateur in 12 years to take an 18-hole lead at an Open.

The 22-year-old amateur's interest is starting to cater to local hero Tommy Fleetwood, who has collected three birdies in a row in the back nine to join table-top Royal Liverpool. Argentine Emiliano Grillo hit a 66 with a 50-foot birdie on the last hole.

Jordan Spieth, who injured his leg, is not to be missed. Rory McIlroy misses putt by 3 feet; Justin Thomas goes from Dhaka to the balcony, rude. Each shot away from the flag scored a nine-under 82 on the 18th hole.

Desperate to end a nine-year drought in the majors, McIlroy was lucky to get away with a 71. A 40-foot birdie putt on the eighth hole at the 14th hole nearly took his spin off until he closed that gap.

And then he almost got away with it eventually, as the bunkers on the 18 spoiled him for several more rounds, as he potted and deftly 10-footers for the second putt.

The best player in the world, Scotty Scheffler, said the wind turned into a squall before 70:00.

Masters champion Jon Rahm got to a point where he felt like nothing was going right, and it wasn't. He thought he had a good shot on 18, but when he found it bogey, he forced it back onto the fairway and turned a birdie chance into a bogey. Rahm opened with 74 runs.

"This golf course asks a lot of questions," said an exasperated Shane Lowry after 72 years.

Left after a long day, after 15 hours of golf, there were few answers.

Fleetwood in 2010 He was hoping to become the first British man since Tony Jacklin in 1969 to win the British Open. He was weighing his prospects, fully aware of the gallery's support for the long-haired boy raised an hour on the beach.

“Day one, so it was a big day,” Fleetwood said. “All I want to do is work hard, keep playing and keep putting myself out there. And, of course, it will soon be my turn.

The biggest surprise of all but the 6-foot-6 Lamprecht was seeing the ranked amateur in the last race of the year. He qualified by winning the English Amateur at Hillside on the Lancashire coast north of Liverpool.

"The first tee was the only nerve I had all day," said Lamprecht, an All-American at Georgia Tech. "Yeah, I was coming off the first tee and after he hit my driver hook, my shot said, 'Listen, you play the Open like an amateur.' There's no need to push."

"Then we had fun."

The last amateur to share an 18-hole lead at the Open was Tom Lewis at Royal St. George steered Irish amateur Paul Dunne over 54 holes in 2011 at St. Petersburg. Andrews shared in 2015.

Lamprecht admits it's unusual for an amateur to defend against professionals, not in the major leagues. But it ends there.

"I think I've found my place here," he said. "For the way I played today, I think I deserve to be in the standings. It's not about ego. I think I believe in myself personally, and I think when you get to the first tee… you have to believe that you have to be the best out there."

Brian Herrmann, Spaniard Adrian Otegui and Frenchman Antoine Rosner finished 18th and 67th. The field includes US Open champion Wyndham Clarke, 50-year-old former British Open champion Stuart Cink and Valencia product Max Homan, ranked 68th.

Spieth had a 69, a tee down on the long fairway, and a standing golf ball on the 8th hole to get off to a good start. He ruled the ball turnover and was involved in a double.

"I've never put on before, so it took me a few holes to feel my legs underneath again," said Spieth. He did just that when he got a pot put off the tee and finished with a bogeyman.

The fans were terrified and the players didn't know if the ball would hit the center or the wet wall. Either way, it was just as punishing as the water hazard.

"That's what they say," Rahm said, "you have to try to avoid them." Many did well today and scored poorly. It's hard to get rid of them all."

The bunkers around 6pm were particularly evil. Thursday's closing hole had 19 double-bogeys or worse. The last time Royal Liverpool conceded 26 goals or worse in a season was in 2014.

Thirty-one players are tied and players like McIlroy are far from the championship.

“I had to be patient there. McIlroy hasn't had easy days. But I'm still there.

McIlroy last won at Royal Liverpool, winning 66-66 wire-to-wire over No. 17. Tiger Woods won the Under 18 at Hoylake in 2006.

Another was Royal Liverpool, with a slightly enlarged and new par 3 17th hole which has wreaked havoc for some. Phil Mickelson double bogey, Lucas Herbert triple bogey, but this day was all about the bunkers.

"This is the best golf course we've ever played on," said Lowry. "They're everywhere and they're very punishable."

LAMPRECHT is an eye-catcher!

With his feet wide open and a curve on the ball, Lamprecht hit his last drive of the day down the fairway and over 350 yards.

"Look at his size," was the hushed comment from across the fairway at the 18th tee as the 22-year-old South African's golf trousers barely covered his socks as he tossed the ball.

Lamprecht's first round at the British Open was one of those performances whoever saw her will never forget.

He was three strokes ahead of one of the longest players ever to play in the Open Championship. He finished with a 5-under par 66 to earn a triple share of the lead.

The last amateur to finish first after the first round of the Open Championship was Tom Lewis, who shared the lead with Thomas Bjorn at Royal St. Louis in 2011. Giorgio shared.

So should Lamprecht have turned away from Hoylek, a strong player?

"As an amateur, yeah, that's it," said Lamprecht, who has been ranked one of the top college players in the United States for the past two years. "But in my head, no, no. I'm too hard on myself and I have a place to be here.

Lamprecht has been ridiculed in this part of the world.

This month he won the British Amateur on the Irish coast with an hour's drive to Hillside for his first Open race win.

He now leads many of the world's best players to golf's biggest stage. He even beat his playing partner and compatriot Louis Oosthuizen by eight strokes and that meant a lot to Lamprecht, who was brought to South Africa by the Oosthuizen Foundation.

"Someone I really know and a great mentor for me, who I've played with before, helped me feel at home and comfortable," Lamprecht said of the 2010 Open champion.

He is a great support and always supports me.

Lamprecht scored three of the four holes to finish eighth on the day. 3 - after running 332 yards in 25 feet to third - to take the lead.

Birdie no. 1 from 40 yards. A bogey on the 14th and a short birdie putt on the par-5 15th gave him a three-stroke lead. He fell back to No. 16 before going two sets for the par-5 final hole, something most players couldn't do in Thursday's two overs.

Lamprecht said his drive covered about 325 yards and could hit the 340-yard drive that impressed Bryson DeChambeau, another big hitter on the track this week.

Lamprecht said he had a lot of drives in the first round, rolling the fairways on a beautiful Hoylake morning.

"I don't think golf is about long shots," he said. "I think golf is the real challenge of golf and that's how golf should be played."

Oosthuizen was impressed with what he saw from Lamprecht, especially his composure, which flashes across the open front for most of the circuits. It also casts a positive light on the foundation.

"He's got a great attitude. Big guy," Oosthuizen said. "I mean, he's very patient and has game."

"Its driving length off the tee has a lot of bunkers off the tee, which is a big plus," he added.

Lamprecht's overdose runs in the family. His father was 6 feet tall and much shorter than the previous five generations, and his great grandfather was about 7 feet.

He said this week that no matter what, he'll stay in college for his senior year and then turn pro.

"I promised our head coach early in my college career that I would stay for four years and I think you deserve that promise."

Fowler, Thomas Shuter of the many who fight 18

Despite the danger on Royal Liverpool's new par-3 17, there were no real headaches. 18.

The par 5 final hole, with a rare backhand boundary on the right side and five bogeys around the front of the green, brought the world's best players to their knees on Thursday.

Literally in McIlroy's case.

The first round of the tournament ended in disbelief as the favorite looked down upon his slightly sprained right leg and left knee before retiring to defend a 71st-place finish. A moment ago, when he tackled the ball with a shield, the ball could not be hit wide.

Justin Thomas can only dream.

The two-time major champion stayed off the green and later sent the ball from one greenside bunker to another to turn the nine into 11-under 82, the highest round in a major.

Hong Kong Tai Chi Kho did worse.

He landed his first and only birdie of the round and drove well enough to reach the green on the 18th.

And then the troubles started.

Khoo puts his first shot to the left of the green into the bunker. And then another. He ended up blowing sideways into the tall grass, where his next blow landed again on the same shield. Kho blew that guy up on his home turf. His eighth shot found the green and he put in twice from 10 feet.

He took 10, giving him an all round high of 83.

Rickie Fuller hit a 72 on the 18th, where he ruined his good run with a triple bogey. Ryan Fox finished three with a 78 on the hole shared by Phil Mickelson and George Campillo.

In the year The Open was last held at Royal Liverpool in 2014, it was 26 under par or worse in four rounds. There were 19 of them in the first round this year alone.

The hole is now 50 meters longer than 599 and the outer boundary is moved approximately 20 meters into the fairway. The white line runs exactly the length of the fairway, bringing OB into play for first and second shots, then to the right of the number. 3. Outer bounds are also a factorial number. 4, although it's not very difficult.

Within the White Line are hospitality areas and merchandise stalls at this British Open. As per the regulations, the ground is used by the club as a stadium.

Brooks Koepka was asked about the inside OB before the opener.

"All right," he said. "Don't let him go there (and) you won't have any problems, will you?"

After what happened in the first round, many will have a different opinion. Banks have been penalized almost as much as OB.

"They're mostly decent fairways," said Rahm, who's encountered on the green in numbers. He should have batted 18 for 74.

McIlroy agreed.

"When you strike in these bunkers, you're lucky at that point and hopefully it's not against one of those pinned faces," he said. "Yeah, John and I haven't had much of a chance with our third one, so you're hoping it sort of settles down and comes out of there."

Barring a huge change, Thomas looks set to lose his cut, and that has big implications.

Currently it doesn't. 75 in the FedEx Cup and will miss the rest of the season unless he wants to add next week's 3M Open in Minnesota or the Wyndham Championship after that.

And if he doesn't make the FedEx Cup playoffs, Thomas will never have a chance to play or earn points in the Ryder Cup. He didn't. 13th place in the Ryder Cup standings, only the top six Americans automatically qualify. Cutoff is Game 2 of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Zink thinks he can win at 50

Stuart Cink doesn't appear to have much going for him at this British Open, especially since he turned 50 two months ago and is eligible for PGA Tour Champions.

His flight from Atlanta was delayed for a day and he saw Royal Liverpool on Tuesday after a long flight. Or the fact that he has only two top 10 finishes in his previous 23 British Open appearances.

One of them, of course, was his victory at Turnbury in 2009. That didn't go unnoticed by Sink, who opened Thursday with a 3-under 68 that left him two shots wide.

"Experience is probably as important here as it is elsewhere," Sink said.

Golf is smaller than ever, especially in the majors. Eight of the last nine winners are in their 20s, with the exception of Brooks Koepka, all 33, who won this year's PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

He doesn't see it that way, even though he has won more than 50 PGA Tour titles. He played a senior major in Ohio last week and could spend more time there next year. Just two years ago he won the RBC Heritage at the Hilton Head.

"I'm no different as a golfer than I was then," he said. “I have no doubts that I will win. It will take a lot. It's going to take me a really, really great game. But there is."

The oldest British Open champion was Old Tom Morris, who was 46 when he won in 1867. Sink was quick to point out that Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship on Kiawah Island two years ago when he was 50.

"It was probably a tougher course than that," Sink said. “No one was really surprised to see him win. He's been so good all this time."

And there was the question of his one major, not who he won but who he beat in the playoffs; Tom Watson was 59 at Turnbury.

"I'm still a lot younger than that," Sink said.

But it will take a lot of work and he knows it.

Thursday was a goalscoring day and Cink played his part, avoiding all but a troublesome Royal Liverpool bunker and the ball was in the way that time, leaving him a good shot to go out.

At his side was his wife Lisa, a cancer survivor who has been caring for him this week. Sink said he's as good a therapist as a caddy, probably not the best at deciding whether a shot should be a 4-iron or a 5-iron, but he can keep his head in the right place.

And after a good start, his confidence started to grow.

"It hasn't been that long since I won, so I know I can still mix things up and give myself a shot at winning," he said. “The key to winning this game is that you don't have to fight the bull on the ground very often. You have to position yourself in enough time to win.

"Sometimes it happens. Sometimes it doesn't. It doesn't matter who you are. The best thing about Tiger is that he has put himself in a position to win many times and it has happened to him many times. I want to match myself for a chance to win the last round, the last nine holes."

Bad start, sad end

Seungsu Han got off to a bad start at the British Open with a bogey, a double bogey and a triple bogey after four holes at Royal Liverpool.

The last one was more difficult.

After passing 6 through four holes, Hahn made no bogeys and four birdies over the next 13 holes, one of the best golf of the afternoon. He recovered his score in 2 overs.

And then in the 18th he hit his wicket. He hit his next drive into the boiler bunker and only managed to explode. His fifth went to the stands.

It ended with a triple bogey. All this work and he shot a 77,

divot

Ֆլիթվուդն այժմ ունի 11 փուլ՝ 66-ից սկսած 2017 թվականից սկսած՝ ցուցակի երկրորդ տեղում Ջորդան Սփիթի հետ: Brooks Koepka-ն առաջատարն է 14 ռաունդներով 66 կա մ ավելի ցածր: … Խոակին Նիմանը, ով, ամենայն հավանականությամբ, հաջորդ տա րի չի ունենա ազատված կարգավիճակ մասնագիտություններում, բացվեց 78-ով : … Հոման իր 68-ից հետո յոթերորդն է, ինչը նրա լավագույն դիրքն է կարիերա յի ցանկացած փուլից հետո:

AP-ի մարզական գրող Սթիվ Դուգլասը նպաստել է այս զեկույցին:

Խաղացեք 9 անցք Ֆրենսիս Էլիսի հետ | Բար աթոռակ Գոլֆ