Lamprecht said the British Open at Royal Liverpool, which he led after the first round, was less nerve-wracking than last summer. The wobble coefficient is clearly lower.
“I couldn't feel my legs at the British Open,” he said. “And I felt really confident with my first tee shot (Thursday). It felt good and the tee shot was great, of course. It was really helpful to know a little bit more about it.”
From that point on, Lamprecht felt free to swing for the fences.
Lamprecht's drive on No. 2, a 585-yard par-5 with a newly extended tee box, went 366 yards and missed a fairway bunker. He was especially proud of his 367-yard plunge on the uphill par-5, 575-yard eighth hole.
“I kind of grabbed No. 8 and there was a lot of oohs and aahs,” he said.
He birdied the 8th hole to drop to 3 under and move to the top of the leaderboard. However, his approach was bad and he bounced off a chair and fell into a bunker, resulting in a bogey. Two more bogeys followed. No. 10's drive drifted to the right, forcing him to punch out. His drive on the 11th hole rolled behind a tree and he was blocked out. Suddenly he was even par up to 11.
After birdieing the 13th, Lamprecht had his “Welcome to the Masters” moment on the par-5 15th hole. After a 341-yard drive, Lamprecht hit a great approach shot past the hole. However, instead of catching on to the green, which had been softened by the morning rain, the ball rolled into the water, resulting in a triple bogey.
“Honestly, I hit a perfect wedge,” Lamprecht said. “I didn't want it to spin off the green, so I took more club to keep it from spinning. It landed three yards further than where I aimed it. Literally a perfect golf shot in my opinion. A little bit of rain contributed to it. I think the greens might have softened, but I don't think I thought about that.”
He shot an even par at Amen Corner and made a triple bogey on the back nine for an unsatisfactory 40. Still, he was satisfied with his first competitive round at Augusta National.
“That's the amazing thing about this golf course. There's a fine line between stupid aggressiveness and stupid maintenance,” he said. “I don't think I did anything bad today. I played really good golf outside of the 15. I was able to play 1 under except for the 15 and I'm really happy with the round in this wind.”
Lamprecht received moral support from his extended family at Georgia Tech, including head coach Bruce Hepler and other Yellow Jackets supporters. “I heard a lot of buzz around here,” said assistant coach Devin Stanton, who will lead Lamprecht’s club this week, just as he did in 2020 when Andy Ogletree was a low amateur.
Lamprecht is entering the tournament as a low amateur with former Ogletree and Matt Kuchar (1998).
