Kipp Popert edged out defending champion Brendan Lawlor in another compelling final-day duel between the pair to win The G4D Open at Woburn.
The leading two golfers in the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) were a class apart from the rest of the field for the second year running, playing out an engrossing finale as Popert claimed victory by one shot in the sun over the Duchess Course.
Popert, 25, finished the three-day event at one over after a closing two-over-par 74, with Lawlor falling just short of going back-to-back at the championship after a 76.
With the victory, Popert, who has cerebral palsy, racked up his tenth title on the G4D Tour since its inception in 2022.
Canadian Chris Willis was third on six over with the Australian pair of Wayne Perske and Lachlan Wood a stroke further back.
Daphne van Houten, the top ranked women’s player in the field, was crowned the Women's Champion after a closing 83 saw her finished 17 shots clear of England’s Aimi Bullock.
The championship, held in partnership between The R&A and the DP World Tour and supported by EDGA (formerly the European Disabled Golf Association), was golf’s most inclusive event according to the WR4GD, featuring nine sport classes across multiple impairment groups, with 80 players represented from 19 countries.
Lawlor, 27, held a slender one-shot lead overnight and doubled his advantage with a birdie at the opening hole.
But he found trouble on both par threes on the front nine, making a double bogey on the second and the seventh, allowing Popert to lead by one after his birdie on the eighth.
However, Popert had difficulties of his own moments later as he made a double bogey at the ninth, with Lawlor also dropping a shot to leave them both at one over at the turn.
Popert moved three clear by the 12th but a bogey from the leader at the next and back-to-back birdies from Lawlor at the 15th and 16th suddenly brought the duo back level.
An untimely bogey at the 17th by Lawlor after catching his approach shot heavy gave Popert back the advantage and he sealed victory with a 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 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.
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
