Trouble at the notorious Road Hole for Christo Lamprecht ended his pursuit of the St Andrews Links Trophy in Scotland on Sunday.
Lamprecht, who just last week made history in Ireland, started the final round one off the pace after rounds of 70, 67 and 71.
The rising star from the Louis Oosthuizen Junior Golf Academy made birdies at nine and 16 and played flawless golf for 16 holes. With two to play, he was tied for the lead and looked set to be involved in a play-off with Irishman John Murphy, who eventually beat Jannick de Bruyn from Germany for the title in extra time.
‘I had an oopsy,’ said Lamprecht, after a triple bogey at the par four dropped him back to six-under and he had to settle for eighth place after closing with a 73.
‘I hit my tee shot left and I had a 50-foot putt left to a pin that was tucked behind the bunker on the left. I had to putt against an upslope that turns left and I just didn’t hit it hard enough. The ball turned left and rolled into the bunker.
‘I left it in the bunker, got out on the second try and missed the putt. One of our managers, Roger Wessels, caddied for me in the final round. When I walked off the 18th green, he told me that a lot of legends of the game have done what I did. They learned from it and I did, too. What I’m taking to the Amateur is that I played great golf, I was control of my game and I scrambled really well.’
Lamprecht’s Road Hole nightmare was part of a disastrous finish from his colleagues as Therion Nel faltered at the same hole while there were five bogeys for Matt Saulez and a back-to-back double bogey to start and two bogeys to finish for Luca Filippi.
The quartet remain upbeat as they boarded the train with the rest of the GolfRSA National Squad for the journey to Aberdeen – and The Amateur Championship – on Monday.
‘We spoke about what happened, put it in a box and forgot about it,’ said the 17-year-old Lamprecht, who hails from George. ‘You can’t cry over spilled milk. It’s in the past. When you choose to focus on the positives, you have a lot more to draw from in your next tournament.’
One of the biggest and most prestigious amateur events in the world, the 123rd Amateur Championship will be played from 18-23 June at Royal Aberdeen and the Murcar Links for the first time in history.
A total of 288 hopefuls will tee it up in the stroke play qualifier, including the 10-strong squad featuring Lamprecht, Saulez, Nel, Filippi, Wilco Nienaber from Free State, KwaZulu-Natal pair Malcolm Mitchell and Clayton Mansfield, Garrick Higgo from Boland, Jovan Rebula from Southern Cape and Ekurhuleni junior Jayden Schaper.
