Amateur Lamprecht leaves mentor in shade to top Open leaderboard

HOYLAKE : South African amateur Christo Lamprecht left his mentor and former champion Louis Oosthuizen in the shade as he enjoyed a dream opening round to top the Open leaderboard on Thursday.

The towering 22-year-old looked as cool as a cucumber around the sunny Royal Liverpool links with seven birdies and only a couple of dropped shots in a five-under round of 66.

Oosthuizen, a surprise winner at St Andrews in 2010, has helped his compatriot Lamprecht since he was a teenager through his Louis57 Foundation and while he struggled with a round of 74, he took great pride in his young apprentice.

Lamprecht, who at 6ft 8ins is one of the tallest players ever to play the Open, gazed at the leaderboard on the 18th green, then popped in a birdie putt to complete a superb morning's work.

"It's pretty surreal. It's nice to see a lot of work behind the scenes pay off. It's something I haven't dreamt of yet, but it's pretty cool," Lamprecht, who earned his spot by winning the Amateur Championship last month, told reporters.

Lamprecht said being paired with Oosthuizen, his favourite player growing up in the Western Cape and who has supported his golfing journey, was special.

"I think that helped a lot today," he said in an accent his friends tease him about for being too American, courtesy of studying Business Administration at Georgia Tech.

"I think having someone that I know very well and is a massive mentor for me and that I've played previously with kind of helped me feel a little more at home. It was kind of a nice draw. I thought they rigged it by some means! I loved it."

Oosthuizen joked that Lamprecht was already taller than him when he first encountered him as a 14-year-old.

"He's a great kid, he's very patient, he's got a game,"