By Mark Tallentire
Royal Liverpool: Tommy Fleetwood produced one of his best opening rounds in a major championship to put himself right in the shake-up for weekend play at the British Open but he had to share the honour of first-round leader with Christo Lamprecht, the Amateur champion who only qualified for the Open last month, and Emiliano Grillo of Argentina, who birdied the last two holes to join them.
Lamprecht, 22, studies at Georgia Tech in the US, and punched his ticket at Hillside, a links course in nearby Southport in England, the town where Fleetwood grew up and learnt to play golf. At more than two metres tall, the South African cuts an imposing figure on and off the course and is also a graduate of the Louis Oosthuizen academy. On Thursday, he played in partnership with the 2010 Open champion, outscored him by eight shots, and already has one hand on the Silver Medal.
“I actually watched him win ‘the Amateur’ on TV,” Fleetwood said. “Seeing an amateur’s name up on the leaderboard is always something that’s so special about major championships.”
Fleetwood, who had Adam Scott for company in his round, is still looking for his first major and may not get a better chance for some time, with the vocal backing of the boisterous local crowd.
“I guess for any tournament you just want to get off to a fast start. It’s not really been my strength recently,” he said. “As first rounds go, that’s absolutely the one you wanted, and to get off to a good start feels good.”
Grillo, who was two over after the third hole, compiled an astonishing round as he peeled off seven birdies, five of them on the back nine, and spoke afterwards of his dream of winning the Claret Jug, famously won by an Argentinian for the only time in 1967 when Roberto De Vicenzo lifted the prize here at Royal Liverpool.
Tommy Fleetwood is in a share of the lead after the first round.Credit: Reuters
“This is what I’m here for. I love it. I’m here to play as many holes as I can with the lead and just enjoy,” he said. “It’s one of the greatest honours in the world, and I’m up there. The four majors are the things that we want the most. Everybody is here to do the same, play the best and lift the Claret Jug on Sunday.”
Scott had been getting it around steadily enough, got to two under at the 15th and was at one under when he got to the 18th tee, where he knocked his drive into the internal out-of-bounds area, hitting a spectator on the head. The Aussie went over and apologised and gave the man, who received medical treatment, a glove signed “Sorry Mate” before the dazed 34-year-old jokingly posted on social media, “This is what happens when you take a day off work”.
Scott then hit his second drive onto the second adjacent fairway and did well to get it down for a double-bogey seven and finish on one over.
Cameron Smith finished on the same mark, despite starting as he left off at the 18th last year, with a birdie three. Five bogeys dragged him back and, like Jason Day, the third Aussie major winner on the same total, he will need a solid second round to make weekend play.
“I don’t think it’s going to be quite as much of a birdie fest as last year, which is probably a good thing for me and the other guys that are just over par,” Smith said. “Just a couple of good rounds and I should be right back in it. I don’t feel like I’m out of the tournament.”
A good par-save from Day at the last, with two of his 26 putts for the round, led to him heading straight off to work on his game again.
“The short game was nice. I’m going to go to the range and kind of work on it and plug along,” he said. “We’ve just got to try and get that back under par.”
Lucas Herbert was the first Australian out and, despite twice heading the scoreboard alongside Lamprecht, he came unstuck on the uphill 136-yard 17th, introduced this year to add a bit of theatre to proceedings. He became its first serious victim. A triple-bogey six dropped him back to level par but Herbert, who had made eagle at the 15th with a 28-foot putt, refused to be too downcast.
“It sucks that it happened when it did, but hopefully I get the luck on 17 the next three days,” he said.
Min Woo Lee matched Herbert’s total while out with the Australian amateur Harrison Crowe, also his playing partner at the US Masters in April and who finished a disappointing five over after a double bogey at the last.
“I just had a blur on the third hole,” Lee said. “Hit it straight out of bounds from the left rough, and it was a really good fightback from there. I just made my pars and moved on, and made my birdies when I needed to.”
Rory McIlroy’s expected challenge never really got going, finishing on level par. Brain Harman of the US is in a group of three players at 67, one off the lead, and the US Open champion Wyndham Clark is one of six on 68.
All of Australia’s Open debutants will struggle to make the cut, which falls on the top 70 and ties. David Micheluzzi finished on six over, Travis Smyth was seven over and Connor McKinney, out with the dustcart in the fourth-last game, shot a five-over 76. Haydn Barron had a three-over 74 and could save himself, and that included a birdie at the 17th.
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