Tag: Amateur Championship

Jacob Skov Olesen makes history, becomes first Dane to win Amateur Championship

“It’s an honor, and I’m really proud to be the first Danish winner.”

Jacob Skov Olesen made history Saturday.

The former Arkansas and TCU golfer became the first Dane to win the Amateur Championship, taking down Dominic Clemons 4 and 3 in the 36-hole finale at Ballyliffin in Ireland.

Olesen’s victory earned him a spot in next month’s Open Championship at Royal Troon as well as spots in next year’s Masters and U.S. Open at Oakmont, given he remains an amateur.

“It’s an honor, and I’m really proud to be the first Danish winner,” Olesen said. “I haven’t really gotten to think about that, but I guess that’s something I’ll have forever, which is super cool. Hope it can inspire someone else from Denmark to win next year or maybe some other years in the future.”

Olesen, 25, took advantage early and was 2 up after the morning 18 holes. Then, he was 6 up at points during the afternoon session before eventually winning 4 and 3.

Clemons, who won the Scottish Open Amateur stroke play title he won at Muirfield earlier this month, was 5 down with 5 to play but was able to win one hole to close the gap, however, Olesen’s advantage was too much.

“I will say on 15, the last putt there, I was thinking, two putts from 15 feet and you get to play The Open, the Masters and the U.S. Open,” Olesen said. “That was probably the first time I really allowed myself to think about it. It’s what you dream of since you were a kid, to get to play those and play those courses and play against those fields. It’s really cool.”

The 2025 Amateur Championship will be played at Royal St George’s and Royal Cinque Ports from June 16-21.

Christo Lamprecht follows 66 with 79 at British Open but will be low amateur

Lamprecht is the only amateur who will make the cut.

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Christo Lamprecht got the full British Open experience Friday.

The amateur, a rising senior at Georgia Tech who earned his way into the field via his victory at last month’s Amateur Championship, held the co-lead after an opening round 5-under 66.

Come the second round, it was the exact opposite from his incredible start. Lamprecht bogeyed five of his first seven holes, going out in 5-over 40, and he didn’t record any birdies in a 8-over 79 at Royal Liverpool, 13 shots worse than his Thursday score.

Lamprecht struggled off the tee Friday, his opening tee shot going nearly 50 yards right. From there, it was a battle for 18 holes as he went from T-1 to making the cut on the number.

However, for his first major start, Lamprecht will get invaluable major experience. And he’ll also get something else: a Silver Medal.

Open Championship 2023: Leaderboard, tee times, hole-by-hole

The 6-foot-8 Lamprecht is the only one of the six amateurs in the field who made the cut, so he will earn low amateur honors and the Silver Medal come Sunday evening in Hoylake.

On top of his senior year ahead at Georgia Tech, Lamprecht also has invitations waiting to the 2024 Masters and U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

We’ll see whether Lamprecht can find recreate some of his first-round magic over the weekend.

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Georgia Tech’s Christo Lamprecht captures 128th Amateur Championship, earns exemption into 151st Open Championship

Lamprecht’s victory secured him a spot at Royal Liverpool next month.

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Golf can be a tricky game.

Not even a month ago, Georgia Tech’s Christo Lamprecht was struggling during the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. Before his match play final against Florida’s Yuxin Lin, Lamprecht pounded balls on the range, but after nearly every swing he dropped his head and shoulders. He couldn’t figure out his swing, and ended up losing.

Fast forward a month, Lamprecht, the South African who will be a senior this fall, has secured one of the biggest amateur titles in the world. He captured the 128th Amateur Championship at Hillside Golf Club in Southport, England, beating Iowa’s Ronan Kleu 3 and 2 in the 36-hole final Saturday. He’s the second straight South African to win the cup, following in Aldrich Potgeiter’s steps from last year, and third in six years.

And for the second straight year, Christiaan Maas, an incoming sophomore at Texas, was on the bag for the winner.

2023 The Amateur Championship
Christo Lamprecht of South Africa holds the trophy with his caddie Christiaan Maas following his victory during the Final of Match Play on Day Four of The Amateur Championship at Hillside Golf Club on June 24, 2023 in Southport, United Kingdom. (Photo by Octavio Passos/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)

Standing at 6-foot-8, Lamprecht, 22, had some big moments Friday just to get into the Amateur Championship final. In his semifinal match, he was 2 down with three to play against England’s Frank Kennedy and won the final three holes to advance, including a pivotal eagle on the 17th.

The match was square after 14 holes, but Lamprecht birdied his final four holes of the morning wave, winning two of them, to take a 2-up lead into the break. He was 4 up with seven to play before Kleu won consecutive holes to make it a 2-up lead with five to play.

Then, Lamprecht nearly holed his pitch shot from the fairway on the par-4 15th and had a tap-in birdie. Kleu was unable to match him, and both made par on the par-3 16th to give Lamprecht, ranked sixth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, the title.

Lamprecht’s victory is also monumental for other reasons, including his exemptions into majors. He’ll be in the field next month for the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, and he also has a spot in the 2024 Masters and U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

Kleu, 23, was only the second player from Switzerland to ever advance to the Amateur Championship final. Twenty years ago at Royal Troon, Raphael De Souza advanced to the final before falling to Gary Wolstenholme of England.

Laird Shepherd charts monster comeback at Nairn to win R&A’s Amateur Championship

Remarkably, Laird Shepherd was 8 down after 17 holes but won the 18th then chipped away at the remaining deficit all afternoon.

As the U.S. Open plays out at Torrey Pines in San Diego, Laird Shepherd has earned one of the first spots in the next iteration of this championship.

Thousands of miles away from the California coast, Shepherd put together an epic comeback in Nairn Scotland to win the R&A’s Amateur Championship. His spoils include a likely invitation a start in this summer’s Open Championship in addition to a likely invitation to next year’s Masters and a spot in the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.

The Englishman battled compatriot Monty Scowsill in the 36-hole final on Saturday at Nairn Golf Club. Remarkably, he was 8 down after 17 holes but won the 18th then chipped away at the remaining deficit all afternoon. He clawed his way back to win in 38 holes.

This is Shepherd’s fourth start in the Amateur Championship. The 23-year-old has passed part of the past year working in a call center amid COVID lockdowns. How his fortunes changed over the course of a single afternoon.

“It’s an amazing, amazing feeling,” Shepherd told the R&A. “To come back from eight down through 17 holes, I mean I was honestly more concerned about not making an embarrassing record-breaking defeat. Monty played so good in the morning, so composed, and I didn’t really have my game. To turn it around was unbelievable.

“The tears are probably for the tough times I’ve had over the last few years. It’s never nice as an athlete when you feel like you are going backwards, like I was.”

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