Golf, The Open: Migliozzi what a start! Three strokes from the leaders

Go Tommy! Lamprecht who? Halfway through the long first day of the Open Championship (first start at 6.35am local time, last at 4.16pm), the top positions on the leaderboard are a synthesis of this tournament that is truly open to the world, which offers opportunities with pre-qualifications on all continents and which offers the scene to those who promise well.

All with Fleetwood

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There is a great player like Tommy Fleetwood (six titles on the European circuit). The huge crowd along the holes at Royal Liverpool (at Hoylake) is everything to him. Who practically plays at home (Southport, his city, is a few kilometers away), who is looking for the first major, who carries on his shoulders the weight and enthusiasm of a nation that hasn’t had an Open champion since 1992 (Sir Nick Faldo). Lots of motivation and just as much pressure for English. Which he does not disappoint. He starts shy (in the company of Scottie Sheffler and Adam Scott), he earns a hit on the front nine and four more on the second in a magical short game crescendo that takes him to the lead at -5. And he positions himself next to those who have already been in the lead for two hours. Not one of the grand tour, and not even a professional.

Lamprecht to the dream

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Christo Lamprecht is 22 years old, comes from George (South Africa), over two meters of boy who arrives in Hoylake thanks to the Amateur Championship won last June. And he takes the field with his mentor, Louis Oosthuizen (+3 per lap), who won the Claret Jug in 2010 at St. Andrews. A dream, he couldn’t ask for a better debut than him. “He certainly affected my score,” he said. “He put me at ease, we’ve already played together but it’s the first time he’s beaten him. He has always been my favorite champion and also my number one supporter ”. Very long levers for large and easy distances from the tee (almost 300 meters on average), but it was control that defined the young amateur’s day with three birdies in the first six holes, recoveries if necessary and a holed approach on the 14th. Nervous about the test? “Only for the first shot”. The South African player grew up playing various sports besides golf (tennis, cricket, rugby) then won the 2017 South African Amateur (youngest ever) and was golf. He studies and plays at Georgia Tech University, where coach Bruce Heppler strongly wanted him, who even learned Afrikkaans to welcome him in 2021.

Italians

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The Italians play in the afternoon. Francesco Molinari closes +2 (73), but not before playing a true Champion Golfer of the Year approach. From the left rough to 18 he has an impossible shot from the rough with a bunker just before the rod, downhill green and wind behind. He displaces everyone and plays (perfectly) a half stroke to the left of the bunkers to then close in par. “A stroke of imagination, not easy but it turned out well; I understood at least twice today to recover like this, fun, fantasy shots that we never play elsewhere “, said the Turin professional. Today’s score? “I have to play better from tee to green (apart from some good shots) because I’ve found myself having to recover from complicated situations too many times, but I did it well and left myself the opportunity to fight tomorrow for the cut. Plan? Try to fight with what I have (at the moment there is a lack of confidence in repetition) and make better use of the par 5s (only the 15 is good today)”. Grant Berry has been on the bag for a few weeks, a veteran of the tour who had sometimes replaced him. Tomorrow he will be on the field at 9.36 Italian time. Guido Migliozzi returns as evening falls, but with good news. His two birdies on holes 4 and 5 immediately propel him to the top of the board, where two shots under par are at that moment (and remain until the end) an excellent result on a day with complicated winds. He finishes twelfth and will be back on the pitch tomorrow morning at 11.42. No one in the end does better than 66 (-5). Arrived among the last, the Argentine Emiliano Grillo also signs it, fresh from a victory on the PGA Tour (the Charles Schwab Challenge) which projected him among the top 50 in the world and from here to the Open Championship. Follow with 67 (-4) Antoine Rozner, Adrian Otaegui, Brian Harman. For now, Rory McIlroy (71) and Jon Rahm (74) are missing. There are only 18 players with scores under par on the first day.