Christo Lamprecht

On June 24 Lamprecht became the third South African winner of the Amateur Championship in the last six years, following Jovan Rebula and Aldrich Potgieter – and like Potgeiter last year he had team-mate Christiaan Maas acting as his caddie.

Lamprecht, who stands 6ft 8ins tall, beat Swiss player Ronan Kleu 3&2 in the 36-hole final at Hillside to collect a trophy which brought with it not only a place at Royal Liverpool, but also next year’s US Open and, by tradition, an invitation to April’s Masters at Augusta National.

At sixth on the World Amateur Rankings he was the highest-ranked player in the 288-strong field, but it was far from plain sailing. The Georgia Tech student made it through the two rounds of strokeplay qualifying with nothing to spare, was taken to the final green in his opening matchplay contest and in his semi-final against English teenager Frank Kennedy was two down with three to play, but won them all – including the long 17th with an eagle.

He was then two down early on in the final, but completed a morning 66 to turn two up and was never caught as he became the 128th winner of the prestigious Championship.

In 2017 Lamprecht was, aged just 16, the youngest-ever winner of the South African Amateur and both that year and 2019 represented the International team in the Junior Presidents Cup.

He has also won all-American college honours and played in the Eisenhower Trophy and Arnold Palmer Cup.