South African Christo Lamprecht defeated Ronan Kleu from Switzerland in an exciting contest to win The 128th Amateur Championship at Hillside.
In entrance of enormous crowds on an excellent day, the 22-year-old claimed a 3&2 victory in an thrilling 36-hole Final to elevate one of the prestigious trophies within the newbie recreation.
From a global area of 288 gamers representing 38 nations, Lamprecht turned the third South African winner within the final six years after Jovan Rebula in 2018 and Aldrich Potgieter final yr.
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Lamprecht into Masters 2024
Lamprecht – the highest-ranked participant within the area at sixth on the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and a prodigious ball striker from his 6ft 8in body – squeezed into the top-64 and ties for the match play phases earlier than excelling within the knock-out format.
“I’m over the moon,” he mentioned.
“I haven’t received one thing massive in a very long time and it’s one to undoubtedly win for positive. I’m ecstatic. I can’t type of comprehend my emotions proper now. “I attempted to remain in my zone the final couple of holes a lot.
“Ronan was enjoying good and combating again laborious. It hasn’t sunk in but nevertheless it feels good. I’m guessing South Africans like enjoying hyperlinks golf. We type of like being artistic so I assume that flowed over into this Championship.
It’s all the time good to be a part of historical past with South Africa and enrich it.”
By advantage of his victory, Lamprecht secured exemptions into The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool subsequent month, the US Open, and, by custom, an invite to play within the Masters Tournament in 2024. He additionally joins a Championship roll of honour which incorporates Bobby Jones, Sir Michael Bonallack, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia.
He added, “It’s wonderful to get into The Open. It’s in all probability the largest type of milestone I placed on myself this yr earlier than I flip professional is simply to get myself in a significant and get that have. To get into three is fairly wonderful.
“But right now I’m going to go and celebrate as much as I can.”
Maas on the bag once more
It was additionally a notable day for his caddie and International Arnold Palmer Cup teammate, Christiaan Maas, who was on the bag for Potgieter when he received at Royal Lytham & St Annes 12 months in the past.
“He’s an amazing golfer in his own right,” added Lamprecht. “He’s going to do amazing things and he’s probably going to win this Championship as well, in my opinion. Just having him on the bag and having a little bit of experience, we kind of play golf very similarly and approach the game the same way.”
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Kleu was aiming to develop into the primary Swiss participant to win The Amateur and the 23-year-old – who tied second in stroke play qualifying – made three late birdies to push Lamprecht to the thirty fourth gap.
In the morning motion, Lamprecht’s opening birdie gave him the benefit. But Kleu, positioned 376th on the planet rankings, settled down and achieved three birdies in a row from the sixth to go one up. With his precision iron play, the Swiss nationwide crew member additionally birdied the ninth to maneuver two forward after 9 holes.
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In a see-saw contest, Kleu bogeyed the tenth and eleventh – with Lamprecht additionally eagling the eleventh – because the match returned to all sq.. Lamprecht, a primary crew All-American for Georgia Tech with eight top-10 finishes within the 2022-2023 season, then seized management. Aided by his lengthy driving, he birdied 5 of the final seven holes – together with 4 in a row from the fifteenth.
However, Kleu closed with two birdies of his personal to remain in contact at solely two down on the midway stage.
Lamprecht, who was six-under-par for the morning’s 18 holes, had performed 21 extra match play holes this week than Kleu however he confirmed no indicators of tiredness to take the nineteenth after Kleu’s bogey to go three up.
It stayed that means till the twenty fourth when the Swiss struck it shut to scale back the deficit. An excellent pitch from the dunes from Lamprecht restored his benefit on the twenty seventh.
The 2017 South African Amateur winner made one other decisive transfer on the brief twenty eighth, holing from 15 toes for back-to-back birdies to go 4 up.a
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