Golf professional Marcel Siem got off to a good start in the last major tournament of the year.
At the 151st British Open in front of the gates of Liverpool, the Ratinger played standard with 71 shots and is in 32nd place after the first day. The lead is shared by the surprisingly strong amateur Christo Lamprecht (South Africa), local hero Tommy Fleetwood (England) and Emiliano Grillo (Argentina), who all needed 66 strokes.
Siem even had his eye on the top ten after the first half of his lap. A double bogey on hole 12 and a bogey on hole 15 still threw the Rhinelander, who lives in Mauritius, back. Top favorite Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), who won the Open 2014 at the last guest appearance in Hoylake, is tied with Siem.
The Hamburg Tiger Christensen, on the other hand, learned the hard way at his major premiere. The 19-year-old started well, was two shots under par after five holes, but then lost his step. In the end, Christensen, like Yannik Paul (Mannheim), had 77 shots on his account, both of whom were in 131st place out of 156 participants and had hardly any chances of making the cut.
Major debutant Hurly Long fared better. The day before his 28th birthday, the man from Heidelberg was one stroke over par when the round was stopped due to darkness after 17 holes, which means a shared 48th place.
Youngster Christensen had at least speculated on winning the “Silver Medal” for the best amateur, but this award should go to Lamprecht. The 22-year-old, who is also playing his first major, scored seven birdies. “It’s surreal. It’s nice that all the work is paying off – I wouldn’t have dared to dream of that,” said the 2.03 m man, who is not allowed to collect any prize money as an amateur.