Brendan Lawlor leads by a stroke heading into the final round of the inaugural G4D Open at Woburn after scoring 74 in the second round to finish the day ahead of Kipp Popert; The Italian Tommaso Perrino and the Spanish Juan Postigo Arce are the closest rivals to the leading couple.
Brendan Lawlor in action at The G4D Open at Woburn
Brendan Lawlor and Kipp Popert look set for a final day showdown at the inaugural G4D Open in Woburn.
The two leading players in the World Ranking of Golfers with Disabilities (WR4GD) are separated by just one stroke before the final 18 holes on the renowned Duchess Course.
Ireland’s Lawlor, the world number 2, missed chances with his putter in a two-over-par second round 74, but still signed an impressive total of 144.
World number 1 Popert, 24, dropped three shots in his first four holes but, as in his first round, the Englishman rallied over the last nine holes to post a 75 for three and one shot in 145 over 36 holes.
Kipp Popert in action at the G4D Open
“I hit him real good again today,” Lawlor said. “I hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens. I had some dumb three putts and missed a lot of putts from inside five feet. So probably looking back on my round it might be five shots better. That’s just golf. All you can do is play yourself.” same in contention for tomorrow (Friday) and hopefully they will go down then.
“I didn’t really look at the qualifying but Kipp is behind so you never know it could turn into a game situation quite easily.”
Popert, who was born with a form of cerebral palsy called spastic diplegia, won five times on the G4D Tour in 2022/23 and will be looking for another notable victory on Friday.
Lawlor, 26, who has played in several DP World Tour events, has a rare condition called Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, characterized by a shorter stature and shorter limbs, and continues to impress at the Bedfordshire venue. .
After a day of improved weather following thunderstorms on the first day, Italy’s Tommaso Perrino and Spain’s Juan Postigo Arce, the world number 4, are the closest rivals to the leading six-over-par pair. Perrino has signed for two rounds of 75, with Postigo falling back after his 79 that featured two double bogeys.
Rasmus Lia of Sweden and Conor Stone of Ireland are next in the international rankings with eight more. Players from 10 countries or territories are represented in the top 10 after the second round.
While Lawlor and Popert are both professionals, this week has seen a field of 80 male and female amateur and professional golfers competing in sport classes covering various categories of standing, intellectual, visual and sitting.
The championship, run in partnership between The R&A and DP World Tour and endorsed by EDGA (formerly the European Disability Golf Association), is one of the most inclusive ever organised, featuring nine sport classes across multiple disability groups, with players represented from 17 countries.
An overall winner will be determined at the end of three rounds on Friday, along with one opposite-sex winner and one gross prize in each category.
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