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A 6’8” Amateur Already Executed the First Viral Shot of the British Open

Royal Liverpool showed its teeth early Thursday morning when Christo Lamprecht escaped from an impossible position.

Gabrielle Herzig

A 6’8” Amateur Already Executed the First Viral Shot of the British Open
A 6’8” Amateur Already Executed the First Viral Shot of the British Open /

It’s a British Open tradition unlike any other: Set an alarm for the early hours of the morning and immediately dive into the chaos of links golf. After that, it only takes one glorious shot to stay glued to the couch, wide awake for the next eight hours. 

On Thursday at Royal Liverpool, that moment arrived when the unlikely early leader escaped a pot bunker in a manner that the majority of the field wouldn’t even think to attempt.

That’s because South Africa’s Christo Lamprecht, the 22-year-old amateur who got a hot start at this year’s Open, stands at 6’8”. 

On Royal Liverpool’s 4th hole, the 2023 British Amateur champion used his long limbs to his advantage when he took quite the creative stance in a steep greenside pot bunker. He stood with one leg in the bunker and one extended on the fairway, his back completely turned away from the pin. 

“Good thing this man has a 38-inch inseam,” announcers joked about the rising senior at Georgia Tech. 

The position might have looked uncomfortable, but it didn’t matter: Lambrecht somehow managed to walk away with par on the hole and absolutely ignited the early risers on Twitter. 

Lamprecht’s masterful flexibility and touch made for the wake-up call that the golf world didn’t know it needed. 

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Gabrielle Herzig
GABRIELLE HERZIG

Gabrielle Herzig is a Breaking and Trending News writer for Sports Illustrated Golf. Previously, she worked as a Golf Digest Contributing Editor, an NBC Sports Digital Editorial Intern, and a Production Runner for FOX Sports at the site of the 2018 U.S. Open. Gabrielle graduated as a Politics Major from Pomona College in Claremont, California, where she was a four-year member and senior-year captain of the Pomona-Pitzer women’s golf team. In her junior year, Gabrielle studied abroad in Scotland for three months, where she explored the Home of Golf by joining the Edinburgh University Golf Club.

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