Photos by Grant Halvorsen/USGA
Paramus, N.J. – Georgia Tech’s Bartley Forrester and Christo Lamprecht both survived their first-round matches Wednesday at the 122nd U.S. Amateur Championship and have advanced to the round of 32 set for Thursday at Ridgewood Country Club.
Forrester, a senior from Gainesville, Ga., took control of his match against Blain Turner of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., early on the back nine and came away with a 3&2 victory. He will face 18-year-old Luke Potter of Encinitas, Calif., at 8:20 a.m. Thursday. Potter needed 19 holes to defeat Nicolas Cassidy of Johns Creek, Ga. Lamprecht, a junior from George, South Africa, survived a back-and-forth affair with Garrett Wood of Mason, Ohio, to capture a 1-up win and a round of 32 tee time against Alex Price of Hillsboro, Va., at 9:40 a.m. Thursday. Price eliminated Wenyi Ding of China in 23 holes.
Tech senior Ross Steelman was eliminated Wednesday in a 3&2 decision to Ben James of Milford, Conn.
Ranked No. 75 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Forrester never trailed after the third hole of his match against Turner, a sophomore at Trevecca Nazarene College. The Tech senior took the lead for good when Turner bogeyed the long par-3 11th hole, then birdied 13 and 14 to move ahead by three holes with four to play. Turner got one hole back with a birdie at the par-3 15th before Forrester secured the win with a birdie 3 at the 16th.
Lamprecht, who tied for sixth place in the 36-hole stroke play portion of the championship, went back and forth with Wood through the first eight holes before the University of Kentucky senior won 9, 10 and 11 with pars to take a 2-hole lead. The 6-foot-8 Yellow Jacket, ranked No. 42 in the world, birdied the 12th to slice the deficit in half, then squared the match with a par 4 at the 14th.
After both players made par 15 and 16, Lamprecht came up with the shot of the day. He bombed his drive 352 yards down the middle at the par-5 17th, then landed his 224-yard approach two feet from the pin for a certain eagle. Wood took three shots to reach the green and conceded the putt. Both players made bogey at the last, and Lamprecht emerged victorious.
Ranked No. 25 in the world, Steelman found himself down four holes midway through his match against James, the nation’s top-ranked junior player. The Columbia, Mo., senior battled back and sliced the deficit in half, winning the par-4 10th with a par and the par-5 13th with a birdie. A bogey at the par-4 15th gave James a 3-hole lead, and the match ended when both players birdied the par-4 16th.
Forrester and Lamprecht are looking to become the fifth Yellow Jacket to win the U.S. Amateur. Andy Ogletree and Tyler Strafaci lifted the Havemeyer Trophy in back-to-back years at Pinehurst, N.C. (2019), and Bandon, Ore. (2020), respectively. Matt Kuchar won the championship in 1997 at Lemont, Ill., and Bobby Jones was crowned five times between 1924 and 1930.
Matches in the rounds of 32 and 16 will be played Thursday, with quarterfinal matches Friday, semifinal matches Saturday and the 36-hole championship match on Sunday. All matches through the final will take place at Ridgewood Country Club. The 122nd U.S. Amateur will receive at least 15 hours of live coverage on NBC, Golf Channel and Peacock streaming service.