World number one Kipp Popert held his nerve to claim a one-shot victory over Brendan Lawlor and win The G4D Open at Woburn.
The top two players on the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) had a final round showdown in the sun over the Duchess Course with Popert’s closing two-over-par 74 securing a winning total of one-over 217.
Golf Saudi ambassador Popert, who has cerebral palsy, was edged out by Lawlor in last year’s inaugural Championship but this time the 25-year-old prevailed to secure a tenth G4D Tour title.
Ireland’s Lawlor, who has a rare condition called Ellis–van Creveld syndrome, put up a stout defence of the title but was made to rue mistakes as he finished with a four-over 76 for 218.
Canadian Chris Willis was third on six-over 222 with the Australian pair of Wayne Perske and Lachlan Wood a stroke further back.
Lawlor, 27, held a slender one-shot lead overnight and doubled his advantage in the glorious conditions with a birdie at the opening hole. But he found trouble on both par-3s on the front nine, taking a double bogey on the 2nd and the 7th, allowing Popert to lead by one after his birdie on the 8th.
Watch: Golf Saudi partner with Kipp Popert, the World Number One golfer with a disability
But Popert had difficulties of his own on the demanding par-4 9th for a double bogey, with Lawlor also dropping a shot to leave them both at one-over heading into the back nine.
Popert’s birdie at the 10th and Lawlor’s back-to-back bogeys saw the world’s best player go three clear. A bogey from the leader at the next and brilliant birdies from Lawlor at the 15th and 16th suddenly brought the duo back level, before the world number two caught his approach shot heavy at the 17th which led to an untimely bogey. Popert coolly holed from two feet for a winning par at the last.
Established last year, the Championship – held in partnership between the DP World Tour and The R&A and supported by EDGA (formally the European Disabled Golf Association) – is one of the most inclusive ever staged.
The sport class winners at The G4D Open at Woburn
The G4D Open featured nine sport classes across multiple impairment groups, with 80 men and women players of both amateur and professional status, aged 15-68, representing 19 countries.
With Popert the Men’s Champion, Dutch player Daphne van Houten – the leading woman at 25th on the WR4GD – was crowned the Women’s Champion. Van Houten, 25, who suffers from scoliosis, finished 17 shots clear of England’s Aimi Bullock. Both men’s and women’s winners were presented with new trophies to reflect the multiple threads woven among the players on their journeys to compete in The G4D Open.
A gross prize was also awarded in each sport class, covering various categories in Standing, Intellectual, Visual and Sitting.
The men’s gross prize winners were as follows:
Intellectual 1: Cameron Pollard, Australia
Intellectual 2: Thomas Blizzard, England
Standing 1: Juan Postigo Arce, Spain
Standing 2: Kipp Popert, England
Standing 3: Brendan Lawlor, Ireland
Sitting 1: Terry Kirby, England
Sitting 2: Richard Kluwen, The Netherlands
Visual 1: Paul O’Rahilly, Ireland
Visual 2: John Eakin, England
The women’s gross prize winners were as follows:
Intellectual 2: Erika Malmberg, Sweden
Standing 1: Alessandra Donati, Italy
Standing 2: Aimi Bullock, England
Standing 3: Daphne van Houten, The Netherlands
Main Image: Getty
