Christo Lamprecht

The son of an accountant father and a housewife mother, Lamprecht grew up playing a variety of sports in George, South Africa, including tennis, cricket, rugby, and golf. As a junior, he even played on a South African junior national tennis team but chose to pursue golf early in high school. At an early age, he was an elite junior player before going through a series of growth spurts beginning around age 14.
As he progressed, he made a goal of playing college golf in the U.S. Undoubtedly, achievements such as becoming the youngest player to win the South African Amateur (in 2017) made the attraction mutual.
In August of 2017, Lamprecht and his father were in Atlanta and made a trip to visit Georgia Tech coach Bruce Heppler, who had a surprise for Lamprecht. Heppler did a two-year mission to South Africa and learned how to speak Afrikaans. So when he met Lamprecht, he was able to start the conversation in Afrikkaans welcoming Lamprecht to Georgia Tech. This made a big impression for Christo, who went on to attend Georgia Tech. Unfortunately, he was held up because of Covid and visa issues and didn't enroll until the fall of 2021.
Became the youngest player ever to win the South African Amateur in 2017. He was in Louis Oosthuizen's golf academy for four years. After Christo won the 2017 South African Amateur, he said, "I hope Louis is really proud of me." He competed for South Africa in the Junior Presidents Cup in 2017 and 2019. In 2019, he was the runner-up at the Southern Cape Amateur Open and T-19th at the South Africa Stroke Play Championship. Won the South African Match Play Championship in 2017 and reached the round of 16 in 2018. Also in 2018, T-8th at the St. Andrews Links Trophy became the first-ever international champion of the East of Ireland Amateur, and T-11th at the Junior Players Championship in Jacksonville, Fla. In 2018, he became the youngest player in the South African Open.
He 2020, he won the Cape Province Amateur Open. In 2022 played in his first U.S. Amateur at Ridgewood C.C. in New Jersey, making it to the round of 32, losing to Alex Price 1 up. The next month, he won the Inverness Intercollegiate.
2023 Summary: Has had a great year:
T-2nd at the Watersound Invitational
T-9th at the Southern Highlands Collegiate
T-2nd at the Linger Longer Invitational
2nd at The Goodwin
T-9th at the ACC Championship
T3rd at the NCAA Division East Regional
T-40th at the NCAA Division Championship
At the end of June, Lamprecht won the Amateur Championship at Hillside Golf Club. He defeated Ronan Kleu 3 & 2 in the 36-hole final. Lamprecht entered the Championship 6th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and was the highest-ranked player in the field. Lamprecht had a tough time in the early goings of the Amateur. He barely made it into Match Play after tying for 62nd place in the 36-hole stroke-play qualifier. Then in his round of 64 match, he had to go 19 holes to defeat Jack Ingham. In his semi-final match with Frank Kennedy, Lampreecht had to win the last three holes for the 1-up victory. By winning the Amateur, he became the third South African to win the Amateur in the last six years. He also becomes the third Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket to win the Amateur Championship, joining Bobby Jones, who won the championship as part of his 1930 Grand Slam year. Charlie Yates also won the 1938 title at Royal Troon.
With the victory comes invitations to the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England, the U.S. Open, and, traditionally, the Masters in 2024.
One thing: his height of 6' 8" is not a misprint, making him one of the tallest men to play in a major championship. His height is not a surprise. "My dad is 6-foot-4, and he's the shortest of the last five generations," Lamprecht told reporters at the British Open. "On my dad's side, the length is there. My grandfather was like 6-foot-8 and great grandfather like 7-foot." Lamprecht's size is tied to his talent. He produces easy ball speed numbers that others can only dream of. He said Thursday, after taking the early lead at the British Open, that his stock driver travels 325 yards and he can produce 340 yards of carry when needed. Due to his height he plays irons and wedges with shafts an inch-and-a-half longer than standard. His driver is 46in long - but only because the USGA's 2022 rule to limit lengths forced him to ditch his 46.5in shaft. He can create 141mph clubhead speed and 210mph ball speed - Rory McIlroy recorded 190mph ball speed last November. His average driving distance in the first round was 325.8 yards.
Shot a first-round 66 to co-lead the Open. He was the first player to hold the 18-hole lead/co-lead in his major championship debut since Andrew Landry at the 2016 U.S. Open. He went on to shot 79-76-74 to finish T-74th. Eight weeks later won the OFCC Fighting Illini Invitational
2024 Notes: Played in two professional events on the DP World Tour, missed the cut at the Investec South African Open, and T-44th at the Alfred Dunhill Championship. On the amateur circuit was T-2nd at the Watersound Invitational, a shot back of the winner Gray Albright. Lamprecht narrowly ranks second to Stanfordâ??s Michael Thorbjornsen in the PGA Tour University Ranking, to which the top finisher at the end of the NCAA Championship in May will earn a PGA Tour card for the rest of the 2024 season and the top five earn Korn Ferry Tour status.

Masters factoid: At 6'8", Lamprecht is one of the tallest players in golf. At 6'9", South African James Hart du Preez is considered the tallest; he plays on the Sunshine Tour and sometimes on the DP World Tour. Hart du Preez did play twice on the PGA Tour in 2022 missing the cut at the American Express and AT&T Byron Nelson. Now, another 6'9" player is Jonathan Thomson, who is supposed to be a notch shorter than Hart du Preez but still is the tallest player to participate in a major. He missed the cut in the 2021 British Open. On the PGA Tour, the tallest winner is Phil Blackmar who won twice at the 1985 Travelers and 1997 Shell Houston Open. Now the tallest winner of a major is George Archer, who was 6 foot-5-and-a-half when he won the 1969 Masters. So the question will be, if Lamprecht is the tallest player to participate in the Masters? No, it's a tie; in 1996, 6'8" Scotsman Gordon Sherry was the tallest and will now share the honors with Lamprecht. The big question is if Lamprecht will stay at the Crows Nest? That is a number of rooms in an attic space at the top of the Augusta National clubhouse. It is tradition for amateurs to stay in it, the only problem is the space is very small. The odds on the Crows Nest having a bed that can accompadate a 6 foot, 8 human is slim. So slim that in 1996, Gorden Sherry declined the chance to stay in the Crows Nest above the clubhouse. As Sherry said, "It was very small and I'm not, so I stayed in a house ten minutes away instead". Still, Lamprecht told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Monday night will be my Crows-nest night. I'm lucky to be up there. It is really small. I've been recommended to stay one night for the experience and not a single night more than that", he laughed knowing that he will probably have to sleep on the floor.