South African amateur Lamprecht takes shock clubhouse lead at Open Championship

South African amateur Christo Lamprecht took a surprise clubhouse lead on the first morning of the 151st Open Championship at Hoylake on Thursday.

Live leaderboard

Lamprecht, who won the Amateur Championship last month to secure his place at Royal Liverpool, carded a five-under-par round of 66 that included seven birdies.

Despite the glorious blue skies on the Wirral coastline, some of the more stellar names in the field struggled to keep pace with the 22-year-old.

An opening 66 for the 6'8" South African.He is the clubhouse leader at The 151st Open. https://t.co/Am5DPU4yM7

World number one Scottie Scheffler has been a model of consistency on the PGA Tour this season but has so far missed out on adding to his one major win at the 2022 Masters.

The American birdied two of his opening four holes, but dropped a shot at the eighth to make the turn at one under.

Defending champion Cameron Smith was also one under after an eventful front nine that included three birdies and two bogeys.

Smith and Brooks Koepka appear to pose the biggest threat from the group of players now regularly plying their trade in the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series.

But Koepka, who won his fifth major at the PGA Championship in May, was one over through 11 holes.

England's Matthew Jordan hit the first tee shot at 06:35 am local time (07:35 SA time) on the course where he is a member.

The world number 329 is just three shots off the lead after carding a 69.

"I'm kind of running out of words to describe it," Jordan said. "It was crazy, mental, loud, everything that I could have wished for."

Veteran Stewart Cink is another surprise name at the top of the leaderboard as the 50-year-old American finished at three under par.

World number two Rory McIlroy will be the centre