AUGUSTA - Christo Lamprecht created a few gasps on the first tee at the Masters on Thursday. The 6-foot-8 amateur from Georgia Tech, hitting last in his three-man pairing, launched his first drive 353 yards. The patrons – at least the ones who could see that far – couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed.
It was the first of many long-distance tee shots for Lamprecht, the 2023 British Amateur champion and No. 1-ranked amateur in the world. He opened his first Masters with a 2-over 74. Thirteen of his 14 tee shots on the gusty afternoon carried at least 300 yards. His driving distance for the first round averaged 327.9 yards.
“I drove it pretty well today,” Lamprecht said. “I had one bad tee shot in my opinion, but drove it really well, played really good golf. I felt like I deserved a better score than what I got, to be fair. But I was pleased with the round.”
Lamprecht said there were fewer exposed nerves than there were last summer at British Open at Royal Liverpool, which he led after the first round. The wobble factor was definitely lower.
“I couldn’t feel my legs at the Open,” he said “And I was really confident (Thursday) on the first tee. I felt good about it, obviously hit a great tee shot, too. Kind of knowing a little bit more about it really helped me a lot.”
From that point, Lamprecht felt the freedom to swing for the fences.
Lamprecht’s drive at No. 2, the 585-yard par-5 with the new stretched-out tee box, traveled 366 yards and flew the fairway bunkers. He was especially proud of the 367-yard poke at the 575-yard eighth hole, the uphill par-5.
“I kind of got a hold on No. 8 and there was a lot of oohs and ahhs,” he said.
He made a birdie at the eighth hole and fell to 3 under, placing him high on the leaderboard. But a poor approach that bounced off a chair and landed in the bunker cost him a bogey. Two more bogeys followed. His drive at No. 10 drifted right and forced him to punch out. His drive on the 11th hole rolled behind a tree and left him blocked out. Suddenly he was even par through 11.
After a birdie at No. 13, Lamprecht had his “welcome to the Masters” moment at the par-5 15th hole. After a 341-yard drive, Lamprecht hit a good approach shot past the hole location. But instead of sticking on the green that had been softened by the morning rain, the ball rolled back and tumbled into the water and led to a triple-bogey.
“I’m going to be honest, I hit a perfect wedge,” Lamprecht said. “I took more club, trying to not spin it, because I didn’t want to spin it off the green. Landed in three yards past where I wanted it. Literally a perfect golf shot in my opinion. I think the little bit of rain might have softened the greens up and I don’t think I was thinking about it.”
He shot even par on Amen Corner and the triple-bogey left him with an unsatisfying 40 on the back nine. Still, he was pleased with his first competitive round at Augusta National.
“That’s the amazing thing about this golf course, it’s a fine line between stupid aggressive and stupid conservative,” he said. “I think I didn’t do bad today. Besides 15, I played really good golf. Besides 15, I played 1-under par and in this wind, I’m really happy with the round.”
Lamprecht got moral support from his extended Georgia Tech family, which included head coach Bruce Heppler and other Yellow Jacket supporters. “We heard a lot of buzzing out here,” said Devin Stanton, an assistant coach who is carrying Lamprecht’s clubs this week, just as he did for Andy Ogletree when he was low-amateur in 2020.
Lamprecht is trying to join former Ogletree and Matt Kuchar (1998) as low amateur for the tournament.
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