THE 151ST OPEN

July 20, 2023

Christo Lamprecht

Mixed Zone

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: I'd probably say the first tee shot was the only bit of nerves I had all day. Yeah, I just kind of walked off the first tee box after hitting my snap hook drive, and my caddie just told me, listen, you're playing The Open as an amateur; no need to stress. We kind of had fun from there.

Q. Was it the same caddie you won the amateur with?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: No. So the caddie I won the amateur with was a good friend of mine that actually played in the event; he is a really good amateur too. He just missed the cut and kind of managed to be on the bag for the rest of the week.

But my caddie this week is my assistant coach at the university I'm playing in America at Georgia Tech.

Q. What size shoe do you wear?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: It's pretty normal. It's a U.S. 13, so it's nothing out of the ordinary. I know there's a lot of bigger feet in America. But no, it's pretty stock standard.

Q. What are your emotions as you see an amateur at the top of the leaderboard?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: Yeah, it's pretty surreal. It's nice to see a lot of work behind the scenes pay off. It's something I haven't dreamt of yet, but it's pretty cool.

Q. What is your max distance with the driver?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: I stock it out driver about 320, 325 yards. I can get it to like 340 carry but I don't want to. Not in this weather. Not in links golf. It rolls far enough, so I kind of keep it in front of me.

Q. When was the last time you played with Louis?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: I think that helped a lot to my score today. I think having someone hat I know very well and is a ginormous mentor for me that I've played previously with kind of helped me feel a little bit more at home and at ease.

So yeah, it was kind of a nice draw. I thought they rigged it by some means, but no, I loved it.

Q. Bryson DeChambeau had a little word with you. He was impressed with your acceleration. Did he say anything at all?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: No. He just wished he had my length, I guess. No, I don't know. Hitting it far is not what I think golf is all about. I think links golf is a true test of golf and it's the way golf is supposed to be played.

Stepping out there, hitting it as hard as I can and hitting it 400 yards, it's fun, it's cool, but it's not something I focus on and worry about at all.

Q. How has the strategy changed this week with a different course?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: Yeah, I think Hillside, the golf course kind of layout, a lot of the bunkers were about 300 yards so I could comfortable carry a lot of them, and that gave me a huge advantage, I think.

That's why I felt so comfortable there, especially in match play. I could be aggressive and it was really nice. Out here the bunkers are placed a lot better. There's some holes obviously I've been taking advantage. Especially today I took some advantage of it.

But yeah, it's placed a lot better, so I kind of think a little more around here. Yeah, it's The Open. It's not going to be easy, is it?

Q. Is it surprising at all for you to look at the leaderboard and see your name sitting on top of it?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: I mean, as an amateur, yes, it is. But in my own head, no, it's not. I think I'm very hard on myself, and I think I earned my spot to be here. I think the way I played today I earned to be on the top of the leaderboard, as of now.

It's not a cocky thing to say. I just personally think I believe in myself, and I guess stepping on to the first tee box if you're a professional or a competitor, you should be believing that you should be the best standing there.

Yeah, I'm very proud of it. I'm a little bit surprised, obviously, naturally, but I'm also -- I played good golf today.

Q. People were also surprised when Louis was in that position and didn't expect him to stay there, yet he just went all the way and won it.

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: Yeah. I mean, like I said, I've kind of changed my mindset the last year about how I approach tournaments and how I approach the game and just controlling what I can control and really just focusing -- only thing I am worried about is the next tee shot tomorrow.

The rest I'm going to deal with it from there on out. I'm not remotely thinking of Sunday or anything. I am just going to go hit a good tee shot on 1 tomorrow.

Q. What will you do between now and when you tee off late tomorrow afternoon.

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: Yeah, think I'll got hit some balls again. Wasn't picture perfect today. I just missed it in all the right places in my opinion. I played kind of smart.

I still go out there, kind of get a feeling and putt and chip a little bit, and then just take it really easy for the rest of the day.

Q. Do you still play a bit of tennis?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: No. I haven't played in a long time. I kind of stopped playing competitively in like eighth or ninth grade, and then after that it was always golf.

But I love playing pickleball. We do that a bunch at Tech. All the off days, pickleball in the No. 1 favorite --

Q. Had a conversation with Kuchar about this?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: No. I've heard he loves pickleball to, but no, I haven't, no.

Q. Did you watch Rory win in 2014 on YouTube? Do you do any kind of --

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: A lot of people told me to do that. I actually didn't whatsoever. After the amateur I took about two weeks off back home. I played a lot of golf leading up to the amateur. I felt like I needed a mental break a little bit, so I put the clubs away for about a week and a half and practised a bunch leading up to this event, but just mentally took a break.

Q. Has your career path panned out -- what could change that this week?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: I really don't think anything, to be honest. Kind of at the start of my college career I made a promise to our head coach I was going to stay four years, and I think you're only as valuable as your word.

Yeah, I'm definitely planning on staying in college for the next year and planning on turning pro after that.

Q. How big of a deal would it be to break the Bryce Molder scoring record?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: Yeah, like I said, the accolades and the records come after what I kind of do. It's cool if it happens, but I'm just going to take care of what I can control.

Q. What were your favourite players growing up?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: Louis is by far the favourite. I've kind of grown up, known him personally, and watching him play, it's pretty amazing.

I would probably say besides that, Rory. Very much love the way he plays the game.

Besides those two, probably -- yeah, I couldn't name anything else.

Q. As you were developing were you kind of a steady guy or were there fits and starts and then you made a big leap?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: Yeah, I guess I started out very competitively, and golf-wise I was a little bit better than everyone 14 at 15 years old and then I kind of hit the growth spurt and everything golf-wise was everywhere.

I didn't know what was going on. I was changing clubs every six months.

Q. When was that?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: Probably the start of high school, eighth grade, ninth grade. I was growing so fast and my swing changed every week and it was all over the place for like two years there.

I guess once I kind of finally got to a certain length where I didn't grow that much more and got a little bit more mature, I figured out where to go, and I've just been growing a tech a lot.

Q. Were your parents tall?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: Yeah, very much. My dad is 6'4" and he's the shortest of the last five generations. On my dad's side the length is there. My grandfather was like 6'8" and great grandfather like 7'.

Not that I know of. It runs in the family, definitely.

Q. Who is the tallest golfer you've ever played with?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: Tommy Morrison. He plays at Texas, a freshman at Texas; 6'10"; recently looked up to him and he's like, hey, big guy. I was like, okay, fair enough. It caught me off guard a little bit. But he's pretty tall.

Q. (Inaudible.)

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: Putting extra weight and add length. No one else wants to use my clubs, so I can't give them to anyone.

Q. How did you wind up at Georgia Tech?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: I guess head coach Bruce Heppler was kind of amazing. I went on a visit there three years, four years from South Africa, and I kind of resonated with him as a person and we just clicked from the get-go.

I loved the programme at tech. Having Stewart Cink and guys like that that we can see week in and week out and feeding off of and just -- it's an amazing programme. I love it.

Q. Do you have any NIL deals?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: One or two, yeah. It might change after this week. But no, NIL and golf is pretty -- college golf is not that exposed right now yet. I think NIL was made for college football and basketball more than anything else.

Yeah, there's possibilities for that in the future.

Q. Who is longer, you or Wilco?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: I haven't played with Wilco in about four years. He's been on tour since kind of since high school and I went to college in America. He was longer than me for a long time. I don't know now. Growing up he was always longer than me, so I have no idea.

Q. Has anybody told you that you kind of sound American?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: Yeah, I've gotten a lot of trouble probably the last year and a half with all my friends back home in South Africa. Apparently I'm a full-blown American now, which I don't like.

But yeah, it's bad. I don't know why it's changed. I can't change it back. I don't know what's happening. But yeah, so be it, right?

Q. Do you eat all your meals at Bojangles or anything like that?

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: No. I'm really picky with my food so I'll just keep it basic. Yeah, you can't -- I guess you can't really faze away from American food if you're there, so you're going to have to eat some of it.

Q. (Regarding beating Louis.)

CHRISTO LAMPRECHT: I don't think I've ever beaten him. I've played with him probably four or five times, nothing more than that. A couple practice rounds and pro events that I got into as a kid. I guess beating him today was really nice.

But yeah, no, he's an amazing support and he was supporting me the whole way through. He had a bad round today. I guess he unlucky a lot of times, but he was I cheering me on and that means a lot.