By increasing accessibility, removing barriers and supporting a diverse community of players, Topgolf Dubai proudly joins the global movement to expand participation for Special Olympics athletes and create meaningful opportunities in sport.

Providing state-of-the-art golf training facilities and fostering a welcoming, inclusive environment, Topgolf supports athletes in a no-pressure environment throughout their experience.

Beginning 14 May 2025, an eight-week Practice Season programme has been designed to sharpen swings in anticipation of an end-of-season competition. Qualifying players will then join participants from around the world for an International invitational tournament to be held on 26 July 2025, followed by a celebration of the stories and successes from the year.

Rooted in a mission of inclusivity, Topgolf Dubai welcomes guests of all ages and abilities, from families with newborns to guests in their 90s and including People of Determination.

“Topgolf Dubai was built with one clear mission: to welcome everyone,” said Mike Walton, General Manager of Topgolf Dubai. “Inclusivity isn’t just a concept here; it’s a commitment embedded into every aspect of the venue.”

“Since opening in 2021, we’ve witnessed the incredible power of sport to connect, uplift, and inspire. We believe these opportunities should never be limited by ability or access. That’s why we’re especially proud to work alongside Special Olympics to welcome new athletes to our venue and into the world of golf.”

His Excellency Talal Al Hashemi, National Director, Special Olympics UAE added, “This partnership is an important step for extending our commitment to providing year-round training and competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.

“Through technology, accessibility and community, Topgolf Dubai is helping create an essential new avenue to participation in competitive sport and the multiple benefits that will deliver.”

MORE: A Beginner’s Guide to Topgolf Dubai

Main Image: Golf Digest Middle East

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The season-closing event will be played over 36 holes at Jumeirah Golf Estates, with round one being played on Monday November 11 and the final round on the Earth Course on Wednesday November 13, where two champions will be crowned – one gross winner, and one net winner.

Watch: Golf Saudi partner with Kipp Popert, the World Number One golfer with a disability

Golf Saudi Ambassador Popert, who sits atop the World Ranking For Golfers with Disability (WR4GD), has enjoyed another stand-out year on the G4D Tour, winning three individual titles alongside the G4D Nations Cup, in which he triumphed with compatriot Heather Gilks.

The World Number One’s first victory of the season arrived at the G4D Tour @ Magical Kenya Open, before adding the G4D Open title to his collection after a thrilling battle with Irishman Brendan Lawlor, who will also tee it up in Dubai next week.

The 26-year-old, who suffers from Cerebral Palsy, then triumphed alongside Gilks at The Belfry to claim the G4D Tour’s inaugural team title, before completing a hat-trick of victories at the prestigious BMW PGA Championship, winning the G4D Tour title for the third year in a row.

Popert will have his eyes firmly set on winning the gross prize at Jumeirah Golf Estates next week, while Australian Steven Alderson will be eyeing back-to-back net victories following his emotional triumph at the G4D Tour @ Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucia Masters last month.

"Growing up as a kid and being bullied all the time at school and even bullied at other golf clubs, it just means the world to win here."

An emotional Steven Alderson looks back at a life-changing week in Andalucia. This is what it's all about. #G4DTour | #EDAM2024 pic.twitter.com/KWcqJ6tYq7

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) October 15, 2024

He was left fighting back tears as he recalled years of bullying due to his autism after claiming a brilliant nine-stroke victory at Real Club de Golf Sotogrande to become the first autistic winner in G4D Tour history.

The 44-year-old is one of three players who will fight it out for the net title, joining above knee amputees Robin Singh, the winner of the G4D Tour @ Ras Al Khaimah Championship, and Mike Wraight, who makes his G4D Tour debut as the Number One in the Net WR4GD.

Seven players will contend for the gross crown, with Popert and Lawlor being joined by CJ CUP Byron Nelson winner Mike Browne, of England, Australia’s Lachlan Wood who claimed the season-opening All Abilities Australia Championship, and G4D Open – Female winner Daphne van Houten, of the Netherlands. They will be joined by Canadian Kurtis Barkley and Australia’s Wayne Perske, who both qualified via the WR4GD.

The G4D Tour was launched in 2022 as a partnership between the DP World Tour and EDGA, formally the European Disabled Golf Association. The G4D player pathway aims to cater for everyone with a disability who wants to play golf, and for many, the G4D Tour is seen as the pinnacle of competition with competitors playing on the same course, in the same week, as the leading Tour professionals on the DP World Tour.

Due to the European Tour group’s ongoing financial support, EDGA has been able to raise awareness, confirm eligibility, organise tournaments, and deliver golf development and coach education worldwide.

Main Image: Golf Saudi

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In the pairs shamble aggregate format, Jayshree Gupta and Maura Duggan had to settle for second place after loosing out on a better back nine from Jiyoung and Young, while just a single shot back in third place was Bhavna Jain and Aparna Mishra on 75 points.

In a day that was also directed at raising money for Fiona’s chosen charity, Heroes of Hope, fantastically the lady members raised 10,000 AED.

(foreground) Aarti Shah, Member of Heroes of Hope, (background) Linda Dickinson, Communications and Operations Manager at Heroes of Hope

A non-profit organisation founded by CEO Hollie Murphy, Heroes of Hope develops sporting, social and interpersonal skills for People of Determination (PODs).

Heroes of Hope is the largest Sports Academy for children and young adults with special needs in the UAE, offering over 18 versatile sports, health and fitness programs and events each week, including Cycling, Tennis, Triathlon, Padel, Crossfit, Functional Fitness, Basketball, Swimming, Athletics, Gymnastics and of course Golf!

The organisation works in line with the vision of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, to make the UAE a full inclusion-friendly country; and in 2022 HH Sheikh Khalid bin Zayed Al Nayhan officially opened the Heroes of Hope gym as part of the Abu Dhabi strategy for People of Determination.

Linda Dickinson, Communications and Operations Manager at Heroes of Hope, Laura Al-Jafari Finance and CSR Manager at Heroes of Hope and Aarti Shah, Member Heroes of Hope, attended the dinner and awards presentation, with Linda and Aarti taking the time to speak to the ladies about how the foundation has impacted their lives.

Lady Captain’s Day Results:
Jiyoung Bae & Young Lee – 76 points (better back nine)
Jayshree Gupta & Maura Duggan – 76 points
Bhavna Jain & Aparna Mishra – 75 points

Fiona Berry, Lady Captain of Emirates Golf Club (pictured) awarded the prizes at the presentation.

Image: Emirates Golf Club

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By John Feinstein
On Wednesday afternoon, shortly before they were scheduled to face the Orlando Magic in an NBA playoff game, the Milwaukee Bucks decided not to play. They wanted to protest the most recent police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., on Sunday. Blake was shot seven times in the back by police while getting into his car—with his three children in the back seat.

Blake is in critical condition and paralysed. His shooting set off protests and national outrage. Since George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis in May when a police officer kept his foot on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, more and more athletes have been speaking out against police brutality.

Once the Bucks made their decision, all three NBA games scheduled for Wednesday were postponed. The WNBA followed soon after, postponing three scheduled games. Three Major League Baseball games were also called off, and past U.S. Open champion Naomi Osaka said she wouldn’t play her semifinal match in the tennis warm-up event for this year’s Open before that match was halted by a day. Nine NFL teams called off practices to protest and speak out. On Thursday, the National Hockey League announced a two-day postponement of playoff games in protest of the Kenosha shooting, and seven more MLB games were called off.

Golf?

Cameron Champ, who is biracial, spoke up after showing up to play the first round of the BMW Championship wearing one black shoe and one white shoe. And the tour released a statement saying it supported the actions of the athletes in other sports “and many of our own members [who are] standing up for issues they believe in.” The statement then went on to talk about the work the tour has been doing this summer “to make a deeper and more specific commitment to racial equity.”

The next sentence was the most baffling: “We understand that now is not the appropriate time to highlight our programs and policies but rather to express our outrage at the injustice that remains prevalent in our country.”

Actually, now is exactly the time that the tour should be talking in specifics about what it is doing. Calling off the first round and scheduling 36 holes for Sunday certainly would have sent a message.

Tiger Woods, who along with Champ, Harold Varner III and Joseph Bramlett is one of the four players of colour across all three tours (PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions, Korn Ferry Tour), said he had talked to commissioner Jay Monahan after the other sports announced their shutdowns and that he was comfortable with the tour’s statement being enough. “We’re all on board,” he said.

Tony Finau, who is of Tongan and Samoan descent, said, “We’re in full support of what the NBA is doing,” adding, “If we can learn from each other, listen to each other, I think it’s a big deal.”

Along with the statement issued Thursday morning, the PGA Tour also posted to its website a one-minute video of Champ describing the symbolism of his shoes.

“It was something I knew I wanted to do as soon as I saw the Kenosha video,” Champ said Thursday night after playing his first round. “I mean, my jaw dropped when I saw it. I thought, Not again, but there it was. I mean all I could say was, ‘Wow.’ ”

Champ has worn one black shoe and one white shoe in the past—to celebrate Black History Month. This, however, was different.

“My grandfather grew up in the south when Jim Crow [legal segregation] still existed and the KKK was still feared,” he said. “I know those stories, and I know how difficult it can be to be Black in this country—even now. I think we [in golf] need to use this as a starting point to become more diverse on and off the golf course. It’s amazing that we have only four players of color on tour right now. We need to improve that.”

Champ received a good deal of blowback Thursday on social media for his shoes and for his video, which concluded with him saying, “This needs to end.”

“I’m not naïve,” he said. “I knew that was coming.”

Paul Goydos, who has played on the PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions dating to 1993 and once taught school in the inner city of Long Beach, Calif., said he didn’t expect to see many tour players speak out on the current state of affairs.

“That’s not the way we are politically,” he said. “Everyone knows that. The tours are mostly white and lean right. But it’s more than that. Team sports are owner-driven financially. We’re sponsor-driven. I think there’s a reluctance to say or do anything that might upset sponsors.”

Sean M. Haffey
After his round Thursday at the BMW Championship, Tony Finau spoke of the need to continue to have “uncomfortable conversations about systemic racism.”

Goydos said he admires the Black Lives Matter sticker that fellow PGA Tour Champions player Kirk Triplett put on his bag two weeks ago. “Let’s face it, there are neighbourhoods in this country where it’s borderline illegal to be Black,” Goydos said. “If I walk down a street, no one will notice. If a Black man walks down that same street, it’s entirely possible people will call the police. I think the most important thing I can do right now—that we can all do—is listen and try to learn.”

Triplett has four children, two of them adopted. One is Hispanic and one is Black/Japanese—his 18-year-old son Kobe. When Triplett put the sticker on his bag he talked about “the talk” he felt compelled to give Kobe—the same talk most fathers feel the need to give their Black children when they become teenagers.

“Think about this,” Triplett said. “When you have a segment of the population that is frightened of those that are there to help with public safety, you have an issue.”

Perhaps the most surprising—and encouraging—occurrence of the past few days was the decision to shut down by the NHL, where 97 percent of the players are white, according to USA Today. The fact that players in a predominantly white league decided to take a stance is a new development. Most of the raised voices of athletes—dating to Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel for the national anthem in 2016—have come from Blacks.

Champ, Finau and Goydos are right about what should come next in golf. Everyone needs to listen and understand why there is so much anger and frustration about these issues. And, as Champ says, the tour needs to move beyond words and address the sport’s lack of diversity.

From tragedy, can come progress.

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By Joel Beall
The PGA Tour issued a statement Thursday morning as professional athletes in several sports protested against racial injustice and police brutality.

The statement comes a day after NBA players sat out playoff games in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday. Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times in Kenosha, Wis., as he attempted to enter a vehicle with his children in the car. Three MLB games were also called Wednesday, with athletes from the MLS, WNBA and professional tennis deciding not to play in their respective contests in protest.

“The MLB, MLS, NBA, WNBA and WTA protests are player-led, peaceful, powerful ways to use their respective platforms to bring about the urgent need for change in our country,” read a statement from the tour. “There have been a number of efforts in the past to send a message that the current climate is unacceptable, and these teams, leagues and players now taking this step will help draw further attention to the issues that really matter. The PGA Tour supports them—and any of our own members—standing up for issues they believe in.”

Cameron Champ, one of the tour’s four players with Black heritage, issued his own statement through the PGA Tour Wednesday evening, and has been wearing shoes with “Jacob Blake” and “BLM” messages. “People ignore it for so long. And then it gets to a point where it just blows up,” Champ said. “This is just the tipping of the iceberg. Change needs to happen. I feel like it’s going in the right direction, but again, with all the stuff that’s going on, it has to end.”

The PGA Tour pledged earlier this summer to be part of the solution, stating it is actively working to make “deeper and more specific commitments to racial equity and inclusion in the communities where we play, as well as supporting national organizations within this movement that we had not previously engaged with.”

“However, we understand that now is not the appropriate time to highlight our programs and policies, but rather to express our outrage at the injustice that remains prevalent in our country,” read the tour’s statement. “Sports have always had the power to inspire and unify, and we remain hopeful that together, we will achieve change.”

The tour’s BMW Championship remains scheduled to begin Thursday morning at Olympia Fields in the suburbs of Chicago.

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