For the third time in just six years, a young South African will tee it up in the Open Championship as the British Amateur champion.

Following the success of Jovan Rebula (Ernie Els’ nephew) in 2018 and Aldrich Potgeister last year, Christo Lamprecht is the latest citizen of the rainbow nation to earn that coveted exemption, as well as, by tradition, an invitation to next year’s Masters and a spot in the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst.

The highest-ranked player in the field at No. 6 in World Amateur Golf Rankings, Lamprecht’s progress to the 36-hole final on Saturday, in which he defeated Ronan Kleu of Switzerland 3 and 2 over the Hillside links in Southport, England, was not without its difficulties. The 22-year-old, two-time All-American at Georgia Tech scraped into the match-play stages on the 141 number, which meant he was forced to win a preliminary round contest (on the last green) just to enter the last 64. In contrast, Kleu finished T-2 in stroke play, shooting 69-64 over Hillside and the other qualifying course, Southport & Ainsdale.

Reflecting the international nature of the event—42 nations were represented in the 288-strong starting lineup—as many as 24 different flags were still flying when the knock-out contests began. One of those was the Stars and Stripes, although only two players from the U.S., Tommy Morrison and George Duangmanee, made it through the 36 holes of stroke play. The last American to win this event was Drew Weaver in 2007.

More encouragingly for the worldwide growth of the game, Estonian Richard Tear made it as far as the quarterfinal before succumbing to the eventual champion.

Still, Lamprecht’s comfortable 6-and-5 victory over Tear was hardly reflective of the 6-foot-8 golfer’s overall progress. Again, in contrast to Kleu, who was never down in either his quarterfinal or semifinal matches and required only 26 holes to win both, Lamprecht was 2-down standing on the 16th tee in his semifinal clash with Florida-based Englishman Frank Kennedy.

Kennedy, the recent winner of the Lytham Trophy (the unofficial British stroke-play championship), played the last three holes in a not-disastrous one over par, yet lost out to the par-eagle-par finish by Lamprecht that was enough to carry him through to a final he dominated after a slow start saw him 2-down after nine holes. Not until the 15th hole in a high-quality morning round did the 2022 GCAA All-American scholar take a lead he would never relinquish. In all, Lamprecht made seven birdies and an eagle prior to a well-earned lunch and a 2-up halfway advantage.

Four-down with seven holes to play in the afternoon session, Kleu, bidding to be the first Swiss winner of this historic championship, exerted some pressure on his much longer hitting opponent with winning birdies at the par-4 12th and 13th. The 340-yard 14th was halved in birdies, courtesy of Kleu’s remarkable recovery from heavy rough that was followed by a huge putt for the three Lamprecht matched with his own unerring 10-footer.

That was to prove an especially crucial moment. Lamprecht restored his 3-up advantage when a deft pitch led to yet another birdie at the 15th. One hole and one par later, it was all over.

“I was just trying to stay in my zone over the last few holes,” said the champion. “Ronan was playing so well and fighting back hard. I guess South Africans like playing links golf. We like to be creative, which seems to help in this event.”

Ironically, Lamprecht identified the unlikely half in bogeys at the par-5 fifth hole in the afternoon as the turning point in the match.

“I felt comfortable after that,” he continued. “I pulled my drive way left into the jungle, but somehow found a way to halve the hole. After that, I just had to keep playing good golf, which I did. My main goal this year was to play my way into a major. Now I’m in three, which is insane.”

The post It’s a tall order to win British Amateur, and 6-foot-8 South African from Georgia Tech pulls it off appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
The past two British Amateur champions, Harry Ellis and Scott Gregory, along with Alfie Plant, the low amateur at the Open Championship last month at Royal Birkdale, highlight the 10-player Great Britain & Ireland team set to play in the upcoming Walker Cup against the United States at Los Angeles Country Club.

“We have been very impressed with the performances of many of the GB&I players so far this season and it has been a difficult decision to select only 10 players,” said GB&I captain Craig Watson in a press release.”

The GB&I side will be looking to keep the Cup after winning convincingly at Royal Lytham in 2015, 16½-9½, the largest margin of victory over the Americans since the biennial matches began in 1922.

Here’s the complete team:

David Boote, 23, Walton Heath, Wales
Jack Davidson, 20, Llanwern, Wales
Harry Ellis, 21, Meon Valley, England
Scott Gregory, 22, Corhampton, England
Matthew Jordan, 21, Royal Liverpool, England
Paul McBride, 21, The Island, Ireland
Robert MacIntyre, 21, Glencruitten, Scotland
Alfie Plant, 25, Sundridge Park, England
Jack Singh Brar, 20, Remedy Oak, England
Connor Syme, 22, Drumoig, Scotland

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By John Huggan

For the second year in succession, a native of the English county of Hampshire is the champion. Never more than 1 up over the course of the 38 holes at Royal St. George’s it took him to defeat Australian Dylan Perry—and 4 down with five holes to play in regulation, Harry Ellis claimed the famous trophy and the coveted spot in next month’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

The 21-year-old, who was the youngest-ever English Amateur champion at 16 in 2012, edged out the previous record-holder (one Nick Faldo) and will also tee-up in next year’s Masters and U.S. Open, as long as he remains an amateur. In addition, he is certain to be part of the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup side that will take on the Americans at the Los Angeles Country Club in September.

All good. Ultimately, however, the eventual destination of the title was more the result of a Perry collapse than an Ellis revival. In the seven holes between the 32nd tee and the 38th green, the new champion made nothing more than pars as his 22-year-old opponent recorded a calamitous series of bogeys and, on what proved to be the clinching hole, a double-bogey 6.

It was, as so often is in match play, an agonizing and inexorable decline for the eventual runner-up, who earlier this year won the Riversdale Cup, one of the most prestigious amateur events in his homeland. Bunkered in two at the long 14th, famous for Dustin Johnson’s wild out-of-bounds approach during the final round of the 2011 Open Championship, Perry was unable to match Ellis’ par. One hole later, the Englishman got up-and-down for par to keep the match alive, a feat he repeated at the short 16th, where Perry missed from about seven feet for the title. Two more dropped shots from the Australian took the match into extra time. And two holes later it was over, Perry having missed the green, then compounding his error by duffing the first of the two chips he needed to board the putting surface.

With his British Amateur win, Harry Ellis is eligible to play in next month’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, and next year’s Masters and U.S. Open. (Photo by Harry Hubbard)

“I never gave up,” said Ellis, a soon-to-be senior at Florida State and a member of the losing European team in the recent Palmer Cup. “I never thought I was out of it. I knew how hard it would be for Dylan. He was the better player over the course of that match because he made fewer mistakes than I did. He was deservedly in front and it’s tough on him what happened over the last few holes. I felt so calm coming down the stretch, and it was only fitting to finish it off after the comeback.”

As for Perry, who was bidding to become only the third Australian after Doug Bachli and Bryden Macpherson to win the oldest amateur championship in the game, he handled what had to have been a tough defeat with a grace beyond his tender years.

“I’m pretty bummed, but at the end of the day you’ve got to take the positives out of the week,” Perry said. “I played well all day, and down the stretch that’s what pressure does to some people. It just wasn’t meant to be, but congratulations to Harry. He played well down the stretch so good on him.”

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Most golfers would be utterly deflated after watching a four-footer slip by and with it a chance to play the matchplay stages of the British Amateur. But Rayhan Thomas isn’t your average amateur.

Far from being downbeat after missing the cut at the 122nd edition of ‘The Amateur Championship’ by one stroke, the 17-year-old Dubai-based Indian is looking ahead with fresh confidence after going so close.

Thomas is now counting down to the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Kansas from July 17-22 and beyond that the coveted Western Amateur to be hosted by Skokie Country Club in Glencoe, Illinois from July 31-August 5.

There is the small matter of his 10^th grade school exams beforehand after they were put on ice so he could play the British Amateur. But Thomas is clearly itching to head to the U.S.

“I can’t wait to get back and start playing some tournaments after this because it gives me a lot of confidence knowing I played really well and can make it at the highest amateur level,” Thomas told Golf Digest Middle East.

“So yeah, just work harder and we can get there.”

Thomas took plenty from the experience on the Kent coast where he backed up an opening one-under 71 at Prince’s GC with a one-over 71 at the Sandwich club’s Open Championship venue neighbour, Royal St. George’s.

The Dubai Creek member looked out of it in Tuesday’s second round when he slipped to four over through five holes as the wind whipped up but battled brilliantly to get it back to even par after the 11^th. A bogey on 12 was then cancelled out with a fifth birdie in eight holes on 14 only for the dream to be dashed by a three putt bogey on 18, sealed by the missed four-footer.

Thomas was one of 12 players to finish the 36-holes of strokeplay on even par and miss out by one.

“The field depth was unbelievable. The cut at the start of the day was one under and it did not move,” said Thomas.

“I thought with the wind picking up it would maybe move to level par, one over but with 288 players one stroke can move you about 40 to 50 spots so I was a victim to that on the last hole when I missed that putt.

“Other than that, I love the British Am, I think it was run brilliantly, the pace of play was superb, the coursers were fantastic. I love links golf. Going forward, not much to do, I felt I played really solid, just had a rough start today and missed one short putt which would have made my week if I’d made it.”

Irishman Caolan Rafferty led the top-64 qualifiers on -10, all of which he picked up in a 10-under 62 in his second round at Prince’s. The score matched Kevin McAlpine’s Amateur Championship qualifying score on the Old Course at St Andrews in 2004 and broke the Prince’s course record by two following Gisli Sveinbergsson’s (Iceland) 64 on Monday.

Richard Finch carded the lowest qualifying score with a 61 at Pyle & Kenfig in 2002.

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The need for sun protection was the only thing to catch Rayhan Thomas off guard as he rounded out his preparation for the 122nd British Amateur Championship in an unusually balmy 28 degrees at Royal St Georges’ in Sandwich on Sunday.

“Today was quite warm actually, probably needed the sun screen,” Thomas joked on the eve of ‘The Amateur’ being co-hosted by neighbouring Prince’s Golf Club.

The early English summer mercury mightn’t have threatened the 50+ degrees (Celsius) recorded back at home in Dubai but it clearly helped the 17-year-old Indian No.1 feel right at home on the famed Kent coast links land.

Thomas will take a fun 48-hour, two round reconnaissance mission into his first British Amateur where he tees it up at 9.39am (12.39pm UAE time) alongside Daniel O’Loughlin (England) and Stephen Behr (USA) in Monday’s opening round at Prince’s. He’ll then have to negotiate an afternoon start (2.15pm UK time/5.15pm UAE time) at St Georges’ Tuesday before the 228 strong field is whittled down to 64 qualifiers for the matchplay knockout rounds at St Georges’ from Wednesday.

Thomas played both courses in practice and liked the challenging conditions he encountered, hardly surprising given his love of links golf.

“They’re fantastic courses, really playing like true links,” Thomas told Golf Digest Middle East.

“It’s firm, it’s brown, and sometimes you have to bounce the ball 40 yards short of the green with like mid to long irons and run it up

“I’ve just really enjoyed all the creative shots you can play. You can hit a lot of bump and runs, putt it from 40 yards off the green, hit balls into slopes and try to run it down, release it to the pin. It’s been fun trying to figure out that strategic golf and playing it that way.”

Thomas has enlisted an experienced local bagman to help his tilt at arguably the world’s most coveted amateur title which counts Bobby Jones (1930), Masters champion Sergio Garcia (1998), fellow Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal (1984) and Italian star Matteo Manaserro (2009) among its former champions.

RELATED:  Thomas puts exams on ice to tee it up in the 122nd British Amateur Championship

“I have a really good caddy this week who knows Royal St Georges’ like the back of his hand, he’s a local whose been caddying for 38 years so, yeah, looking forward to it,” said Thomas who has proven UK pedigree having won the 2016 Scottish Boys’ Strokeplay Championship.

“I think to make the matchplay, I just need to play it solid, take it shot by shot and just don’t make too many silly mistakes because it is going to be tough out there.

“The courses are tough with how firm they are playing  So I just need to keep it steady, be patient and come out with a good score. Yeah, I’m looking forward to it, I can’t wait.”

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