World Number One Kipp Popert holds a share of the lead alongside G4D Tour debutant Simon Seungmin Lee after the first round of the Australian All Abilities Championship.
England’s Popert, who has cerebral palsy, and South Korea’s Lee, who is autistic, both made birdies at the 18th over Kingston Heath Golf Club to card opening 71s in Melbourne.
Their closest challenger is England’s above-the-knee, left-leg amputee Mike Browne, who carded a 73 at the season-opening event which boasts seven of the top ten players in the world in an elite 12-strong field.
With last year’s champion Lachlan Wood absent through illness, Wayne Perske leads the Australian contingent on home soil in fourth place after a 76.
Popert has been the dominant force since the inception of the G4D Tour in 2022, winning his 13th G4D Tour – five of those coming last season – and the first of his career in Dubai earlier this month.
He mixed two birdies with two bogeys over his front nine on Thursday, with birdies at the 11th and 18th sandwiched by a dropped shot at the par-four 16th as he finished in the red.
Lee, the inaugural winner of the U.S. Adaptive Open in 2022, was among the pre-tournament favourites and underlined that status by making three birdies as a double bogey at the 16th was his only blemish of the day.
Steven Alderson, who has won net titles in his opening two G4D Tour starts, began with a seven-over 79, with American Ryanne Jackson the lone woman in the field starting with a 92.
All three days of the 54-hole gross competition are held at Kingston Heath Golf Club, where the ISPS HANDA Australian Open is being staged alongside The Victoria Golf Club.
To view the leaderboard in full after the first round, click here.
