At just 22 years of age, South African golfer Christo Lamprecht is making an early splash at the 2023 Open Championship.
The Western Cape native, taking part in the first major event of his career at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club this week, became the third South African winner of the Amateur Championship in the last six years back in June.
As such, he was given his exemptions to the 2023 Open Championship, 2024 Masters Tournament and 2024 U.S. Open.
Standing at 6ft 8ins tall, Lamprecht has already made history by becoming one of the tallest golfers in history but he'll be hoping to chase bigger accolades than that in the coming years.
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Who is Christo Lamprecht?
Born in George in South Africa's Western Cape in January 2001, Lamprecht was introduced to golf at the tender age of three by his father.
Throughout high school, his love for the game grew and in 2017, he became the youngest player ever to win the South African Amateur Championship. That was the second of six titles during his amateur career that culminated in victory at the 2023 Amateur Championship back in June.
Due to that win, Lamprecht received an invitation to the 2023 Open Championship — an opportunity he has duly taken. As of the end of his own first round at the event, the South African was leading the whole field, posting a round of 66 to finish the opening day on -5.
Lamprecht currently attends Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
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Christo Lamprecht golf career
To date, Lamprecht has won six tournaments in his amateur golf career.
His first came back in 2016 with victory at the Dimension Data Junior Open before he then became the youngest ever winner of the South African Amateur Championship just one year later.
He went on to take three more crowns as well as winning all-American college honours, and played in the Eisenhower Trophy and Arnold Palmer Cup. He also represented South Africa in the Junior Presidents Cup in both 2017 and 2019.
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His biggest win to date came during the 2023 Amateur Championship where he entered as the highest-ranked player in the 288-strong field. Lamprecht became the 128th winner of the prestigious event and was duly invited to the 2023 Open Championship, 2024 U.S. Open and, by tradition, the 2024 Masters at Augusta National.
Lamprecht battled through the early stages before winning the 36-hole Final, defeating Switzerland's Ronan Kleu.
