Christo Lamprecht is in it for the long game

FRANKLIN, Tenn. – Christo Lamprecht sat in an air-conditioned mobile trailer with a spider-like device strapped to his head, a couple dozen sensors mapping his brain, as the outside commotion of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals faded to a distant memory. The 6-foot-8 South African leaned back in a brown cushioned recliner, eyes closed, quipping that he could spend hours in that exact position. His legs crept over the chair’s edge, same as that morning on a physio’s treatment table in a hitting bay just off the driving range. That’s life for one of golf’s tallest pros.

Lamprecht arrived at Vanderbilt Legends Club just before 8 a.m. Tuesday, and dinner hour was now approaching outside Nashville. Rest is crucial for Lamprecht, who finds it more difficult to sleep on the road versus at home, and this week’s Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation marks a crossroads just three months into his pro career. He stands No. 138 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List with three events remaining in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals; only the top 120 will qualify for next week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship.

But he craves the extra edge, a trait that led him to world No. 1 amateur during an illustrious college career at Georgia Tech and led him to this trailer for a cognitive test – brain mapping and a treatment to move his brain waves closer to ideal form. It might help just .1%, the technician explained.

“I’m on board for that,” Lamprecht said.

Lamprecht finished No. 2 on the PGA TOUR University Ranking this spring, having contended for the No. 1 spot that awards TOUR status but losing out to Stanford’s Michael Thorbjornsen after a back injury required him to withdraw from the NCAA Championships before the second round. He’s exempt to PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry’s Final Stage via his PGA TOUR University ranking, with conditional Korn Ferry Tour status at minimum for 2025 and a chance at a TOUR card via the top five and ties. He could still earn a TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, albeit it’s a long shot – the top 75 after the Nationwide will qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance, after which 30 PGA TOUR cards will be awarded.

Lamprecht, soft-spoken and witty at 23, has plenty of options ahead. Although this week represents his first true status-and-eligibility cutoff situation as a professional golfer, he hasn’t stopped seeking new advantages. During the Korn Ferry Tour’s two-week break before the Simmons Bank Open, he began implementing a swing change after a discussion with longtime instructor Jeff Paton and a second opinion from Sea Island-based Justin Parsons. He wants to feel the same through the swing, he said, but the major change involves standing closer to the ball – which means potentially cramped feelings at address while he works through the change. He’s not trying to shorten or lengthen his backswing, and he wants to maintain his previous back-and-through feel despite the setup tweak – with drills like nestling a spongey ball under his armpit on the range and left-handed chipping at the short-game area. The goal is long-term consistency, he said Tuesday.

Lamprecht believes golf is “10% physical, 90% mental,” and these physical drills are an extension of the mental game that he strives to keep atop the mind. He went through an angsty phase, golf-wise, as a teenager in South Africa, but after meeting with a sports psychologist, he made a point to prioritize emotional control on the course. (He doesn’t currently work with a formal mental coach, but he often discusses the mental game with his college coaches Bruce Heppler and Paton.) He writes “CWYC” on his golf glove – standing for “control what you can control” – as a reminder of a late friend who was on a similar sporting path but died in a car accident at a young age. He has cultivated a comfortable environment inside the ropes – his caddie this summer is longtime close friend and second cousin Christian Meintjes; the two lived 10 houses apart from age 5 onwards, and Meintjes moved to America last year to pursue a career as a PGA of America professional. (Lamprecht floated the idea while back home for the holidays, it was finalized after the Georgia Tech season, and the two have embarked on an American summer adventure.)

Lamprecht unplugs from the game frequently – when he talks with his mom and girlfriend, he rarely discusses golf – and he makes a conscious point to avoid blaming anything or anyone but himself when things go wrong. It doesn’t come easy, but he points back to his upbringing and continued focused effort to remain task-oriented.

It’s a multifaceted mental approach that blends into golf’s more technical side – whether seen or unseen – hence the importance of sharpening the mental game. Lamprecht knows he’s far from a finished product, but that is understandable for a 23-year-old who turned pro less than four months ago. He has big goals and admits that he wants to get on TOUR fast – but knows that some time on the Korn Ferry Tour is OK too (it worked well for 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler, as Lamprecht noted Tuesday). The next few months, across the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and Q-School, will determine his 2025 calendar.

“When you’re not hitting the golf ball great, there are so many variables to why you’re not hitting it great,” Lamprecht said. “And you can’t just go, ‘Oh, I’m gonna try this, I’m gonna try this, I’m gonna try this,’ because then you’re going to go into a deeper hole. You’ve got to try to eliminate things and say, ‘Oh, it’s not this, it’s not that, it’s not that, it might be this.’

“It’s so much easier said than done … I go through that spiral a lot of the times, which is really not a good thing, and the best players in the world do a really good job of that, having a problem in front of them and finding a solution really fast.”

The young pro is inspired to hone this proactive approach in the coming months and years, determined to channel any lingering angst into finding new edges. It goes back to that spider-like device and the recliner late Tuesday afternoon. The Korn Ferry Tour offered on-site cognitive tests to players this week, and Lamprecht was eager for its findings, after his girlfriend Annalisa took the test Monday and encouraged him to follow suit. It began with a survey where he self-evaluated various traits like “trouble concentrating on things such as reading the newspaper or watching television.”

“I’m really good at locking in on something I’m doing, so when I’m watching television, that’s kind of all I’m worried about, so I said no, not at all,” Lamprecht said.

After the survey, he was asked to clear his mind for three minutes with the device on his head – gathering information of his brain’s inner workings. It produced a map of brain function in areas like vigilance, impulsivity, analytical skills – even night vision – and he then received a 5-minute treatment to address any gaps between his brain map and ideal form.

Will it work? Only time will tell, but it’s indicative of his long-term approach. Lamprecht eyes a multi-decade career in professional golf, where everyone is elite and success comes on the edges. Whether via swing tweaks or cognitive tests, he intends to find his edges.