Towering golfer Christo Lamprecht swings for Masters historical past

ATLANTA — Christo Lamprecht is aware of what’s coming.

As a 6-foot-8 senior at Georgia Tech, Lamprecht will get it. He understands that more often than not, strangers who see him sporting a Tech T-shirt or hoodie positively don’t assume that his sport of selection is golf and, after they study it’s, inevitably ask him the identical set of questions.

So, for the document:

Sure, he has huge sneakers. (He is a measurement 13.)

No, he is not on the Tech basketball staff. (Although he is taller than 12 of the 16 gamers who’re.)

Sure, he likes basketball and the NBA although he did not watch a sport till he was 12. (Rugby and soccer are much more widespread in his residence nation of South Africa.)

And no, dunking is not simple for him, regardless of the actual fact he is practically the identical top as LeBron James. “I type of need to put quite a lot of effort into it,” Lamprecht says earnestly. “It is laborious — it is a full two-leg bounce!” Shortly recognizing that the majority different people will not essentially settle for this clarification from somebody who’s taller than the common fridge, he provides, in a barely decrease voice, “I am most likely not the perfect jumper on this planet.”

Happily for Lamprecht, an honest vertical is not particularly related to his life aspirations. Skilled golf awaits him later this summer time, however this week he’ll play on the Masters — the place, by all accounts, he’ll turn into the tallest competitor within the historical past of the occasion.

Lamprecht earned the invitation by profitable final 12 months’s British Newbie, and he accepts the fact that he’ll be a novelty for spectators at Augusta Nationwide who’re used to watching, say, Tiger Woods (6-foot-1), Justin Thomas (5-10) or Rory McIlroy (5-10).

“Golf’s not likely meant to be performed by a man that is 6-8,” Lamprecht says. “So, there is no blueprint to what the golf swing is meant to appear to be for somebody like me.”

What Lamprecht’s golf swing does appear to be is, nicely, lengthy. And large. And actually, actually quick, the arc of his membership sweeping its method to the highest earlier than plummeting again by the hitting zone like an asteroid crashing to earth. Golf’s guidelines cap the size of a participant’s driver at 46 inches, so Lamprecht’s drive is particularly exceptional when you think about that he cannot straighten his lead leg the best way most gamers do at impression to extend energy.

As a substitute, Lamprecht should bend his hips and knees and get right down to the ball — as a result of if he does not, he’ll whip the clubhead excessive of it and miss every part.

In some ways, Lamprecht is working towards historical past. In a research performed by the PGA in 2018, the group discovered that gamers with heights starting from 5-10 to 6-4 had probably the most success on tour in recent times, with the smaller 6-1 to 6-4 subset being probably the most perfect. (How tall is Scottie Scheffler, the world’s finest golfer proper now? 6-foot-3.)

There have been loads of taller golfers who starred — Dustin Johnson, a two-time main champion, is 6-4, as is Tony Finau, who has received six instances on the PGA Tour. However once you get into the super-tall class, the checklist dwindles significantly: Phil Blackmar received 3 times on tour within the ’80s and ’90s, and at 6-7, he has been the historic standard-bearer for a number of many years. Along with Lamprecht, there are just a few different golfers on the higher altitudes at present attempting to make it, together with James Hart du Preez, one other South African, who’s toiling in golf’s minor leagues and is 6-10.

All of them reside the identical actuality: Due to the legal guidelines of gravity and the foundations of golf that put limitations on tools, top is each a blessing and a curse. Coaches discuss on a regular basis a couple of participant’s “levers” — his limbs, basically, that transfer the membership across the physique and into the ball — and the taller a participant is, the larger his levers are and thus, by extension, the extra drive he can ship into the ball.

However as Lamprecht says, “with the massive arc comes much more volatility,” and his trademark knee-bend is a manner for him to attempt to harness his velocity in a managed method. The result’s a swing that has considerably extra transferring items than the standard tour professional’s, however produces outcomes which might be unimaginable to disregard.

The common ball velocity produced by an on a regular basis male golfer hitting a driver is round 140 mph, whereas the inventory PGA Tour participant’s is round 170 mph. Someday final month at Tech’s observe facility — with little or no warmup or stretching — Lamprecht casually walked onto the observe tee and unleashed a driver with ball velocity over 200 mph.

“It is like doing a 500-pound bench press, most likely, when the common is doing like 80 or 90 kilos — it is prime of the highest,” says Bryson DeChambeau, the 2020 U.S. Open champion whose efforts at rising his personal ball velocity are well-chronicled. “It’s totally troublesome to do — virtually unimaginable for most individuals, except you prepare for years to do this. So, what he has together with his pure uncooked capacity is past me and one thing I’m jealous of.”

Lamprecht’s measurement runs in his household (his great-grandfather, he says, was practically 7-foot), and as he grew up in George, in South Africa’s Western Cape, there was curiosity from rugby coaches who had been intrigued by Lamprecht’s top.

Lamprecht fell in love with golf early, although — he first picked up golf equipment at age 3 — and his ardour for the game did not waver. He was the youngest winner of the South Africa Newbie in 2017 (at age 16) and was recruited by a number of prime faculties earlier than enrolling at Tech in 2020.

When he arrived, Tech’s coach, Bruce Heppler, was shocked by how a lot Lamprecht had grown within the few months since they’d final seen one another. In all, Lamprecht sprouted up greater than a foot throughout highschool, going from 5-7 to 6-8.

“All my garments modified like 3 times in highschool — my mother did not love that,” Lamprecht says. “My golf golf equipment modified about 3 times, too. It was a tough time for me on the golf course — quite a lot of good finishes, and in addition quite a lot of horrendous golf.”

These days, Lamprecht’s irons are a full inch-and-a-half longer than customary. And whereas one may assume Lamprecht would use a broomstick-style putter to present his again a break on the greens, he really prefers bending down and utilizing an armlock putter that’s 43 inches lengthy, or only a contact shorter than the complete broomstick that Will Zalatoris makes use of.

In reality, Lamprecht may take extra satisfaction in his quick sport than his energy. He understands the fascination together with his size, however he enjoys defying individuals’s expectations with regards to his contact.

“We have had some guys right here who may actually get a ball up and down, however he is nearly as good as anyone,” says Heppler, Tech’s coach since 1995. “So to be that good at first of the opening and on the finish is why I believe he has a extremely vibrant future.”

This week in Augusta really is not Lamprecht’s first skilled main; his British Newbie win additionally acquired him into final 12 months’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, the place he loved a roller-coaster 4 days that included sharing the first-round lead after a 66, grinding to make the reduce on the quantity after a second-round 79, main the sphere in driving distance at 320 yards (the common was 293) and, in a second that went viral, doing a exceptional impression of a flamingo whereas efficiently hitting a shot from one of many course’s deep pot bunkers.

Hyperlinks golf on full show @TheOpen 😲 pic.twitter.com/aU3ScybUkh

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 20, 2023

Veteran tour professional Stewart Cink, who went to Georgia Tech and lives in Atlanta, usually practices alongside Lamprecht at Tech’s observe facility. He wasn’t fairly as shocked by Lamprecht’s breakout second on the Open as the remainder of the golf world.

“As a 50-year-old golfer seeing a man like him, he’s just about your fundamental nightmare watching a man like him developing,” Cink stated that day in England. “He can hit it like 330 within the air and he hits these little photographs across the inexperienced so mushy, it is wonderful. He is acquired quite a lot of potential in entrance of him.”

Whereas Brian Harman — at 5-7, one of many shorter gamers on tour — ended up profitable the Open, Lamprecht’s important takeaway from the week was that his swing, uncommon as it might be, is powerful sufficient to take to the game’s highest degree. Seeing his final title atop the leaderboard that Thursday “hit someplace the place it hasn’t hit earlier than,” he says. “It is a actually laborious sport, and it makes you doubt much more than makes you imagine. To know that my stable spherical was adequate to compete with anybody on this planet was very nice.”

Lamprecht nonetheless has the ACC event and NCAA championship to play with Tech, and he’ll graduate subsequent month with a level in enterprise administration. He’s mulling whether or not to show skilled earlier than or after June’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst, however each time it occurs, his aspirations are appreciable. Different rising stars — like Ludvig Åberg, who graduated from Texas Tech in 2023 and has already performed in a Ryder Cup and received on the PGA Tour, or Nick Dunlap, who left Alabama early after profitable January’s American Specific as an novice — have set a excessive bar.

However first comes this week, and an opportunity to be a part of golf’s most well-known event (whose tallest earlier champion, for those who’re questioning, is believed to be 6-foot-5½ George Archer in 1969).

Lamprecht hopes to play a observe spherical with 2015 champion Jordan Spieth (“I believe he is aware of his manner round right here”), and he’s excited to spend a while within the Crow’s Nest, the rooms on the highest ground of Augusta Nationwide’s clubhouse the place amateurs have historically slept throughout event week.

Lately, some novice gamers have skipped really sleeping over — the lodging are spare and never essentially as conducive to optimum efficiency as a rental home could be — however Lamprecht is leaning towards spending an evening merely for the expertise, although he concedes it’ll doubtless be uncomfortable for the reason that dormitory-style setup most likely wasn’t designed with somebody of his stature in thoughts.

“I believe I’ve misplaced about 1,000,000 mind cells strolling into doorways,” Lamprecht says. “However any novice in golf is aware of precisely what the Crow’s Nest is. I’ve heard the mattress might be as much as my knees and the remainder of me goes to hold off, however I will spend one evening there for the expertise after which a comfier mattress for the remainder of the week.”

Whereas Lamprecht will soak in all that he can from his first Masters look, he has no intention of being overwhelmed. His efficiency finally 12 months’s Open solely strengthened his perception that he can compete with the professionals, and he needs nothing greater than to make historical past by changing into the primary novice to ever win the Masters.

After all, ought to he pull off that feat, there could be an fascinating second within the post-round ceremony. Masters champions at all times obtain the membership’s distinctive inexperienced jacket, and whereas the membership retains all kinds of sizes readily available to account for the numerous shapes and physique sorts of potential winners, it isn’t clear whether or not they’d have a coat that would simply be slipped over Lamprecht’s sizeable shoulders.

For what it is value, Lamprecht, who wears a measurement 50 further lengthy, says most of his size is “in my legs” and so it is potential there could be a jacket readily available that would match him. However he additionally needs to clarify that he is not choosy.

“No matter they do have can be fantastic and if I by some means win, I’d gladly take it,” he says. “They do not even have to present me one. So long as I win the golf event, I might be very happy.”

ESPN producer Harry Hawkings contributed to this report.