Fox and Hillier plunge off the pace at British Open

The Kiwi pair signed off on rounds of seven-over 78, leaving them 12 strokes off the pace and staring at the likelihood of missing the cut at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

South African amateur Christo Lamprecht shared the lead on five-under with Englishman Tommy Fleetwood and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo, who made a monster putt on the 18th hole late in the day.

The trio was one shot ahead of Antoine Rozner of France, Adrian Otaegui of Spain and low American Brian Harman, with a pack of big names giving chase at the final major championship of the year.

It’s a long way back to the New Zealanders, who both lost considerable ground at the end of their rounds.

Teeing off in the third group of the day, Fox made a sound start before dropping seven shots on his back nine, including a triple-bogey on the par-five 18th hole, when his tee shot went out of bounds.

The in-form Hillier, playing just his third major tournament, was nearly as wayward coming home, shooting double bogeys on the 10th and 17th holes, along with bogeys on the 16th and 18th.

Leaders thrive

Lamprecht, a 22-year-old senior at Georgia Tech, won the Amateur Championship last month not far from Liverpool to qualify for the Open.

His opening round featured seven birdies, including a chip-in from the fairway at the par-4 14th.

Fleetwood, a home-crowd favorite who grew up about 30 miles away from the course, sank three straight birdies at holes 14-16 — punctuated by a 26-footer at the 16th — to post a 4-under 32 on the back nine and tie Lamprecht.

“Such a special opportunity to play so close to home, (to) have that support and play an Open,” Fleetwood said.

“Glad I gave them some good golf to watch.”

The last time an Englishman won The Open on English soil was Tony Jacklin in 1969. And only three amateurs have ever won The Open — the last being Bobby Jones in 1930.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Lamprecht said. “It’s nice to see a lot of work behind the scenes pay off. It’s something I haven’t dreamt of yet, but it’s pretty cool.”

The 6-foot-9 Lamprecht had the fortune of playing the first two rounds with a fellow South African he counts as a “ginormous mentor” — Louis Oosthuizen, who won the 2010 Open in surprise fashion.

“I think that helped a lot to my score today,” Lamprecht said. “… It was kind of a nice draw. I thought they rigged it by some means, but no, I loved it.”

Grillo tied the lead during the afternoon wave by going 5-under over his final eight holes. He had trouble at the par-5 18th before draining a 51-foot uphill birdie putt to become a co-leader.

The Open offered up its usual buffet of links-style golf, with slopes and false fronts feeding golf balls into one of 82 pot bunkers.

– RNZ/Field Level Media