Brendan Lawlor is chasing a second men's G4D Open title after opening up a two-shot lead on day one at Woburn, with Jennifer Sräga ahead in the women’s event.
Lawlor endured an up-and-down round on a cold, overcast day over the Duchess Course to sign for a level-par 72 in the men’s championship.
The Irishman, who has a rare condition called Ellis–van Creveld syndrome, characterised by a shorter stature and shorter limbs, holed from 25 feet on the 1st for one of five birdies but also carded five bogeys.
With Kipp Popert, the defending champion and leading player on the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD), forced to withdraw after foot surgery earlier this year, Lawlor is in command as he aims to emulate his success at the inaugural G4D Open in 2023.
Lawlor, 28, is ahead by two strokes from Lachlan Wood from Australia and Danish debutant Frederik Brokfelt-Christiansen, the youngest player in the field, after their two-over-par rounds of 74.
Wood, 34, who tied fourth last year, continues to impress after multiple surgeries on his left leg after a car accident aged 16. Brokfelt-Christiansen, 18, who has scoliosis of the spine, has burst into the top-50 of the WR4GD after a string of good finishes in his early EDGA tournaments. Frenchman Thomas Colombel and Thomas Blizzard from England sit tied fourth on three-over 75.
In the women’s field, last year’s winner Daphne van Houten from The Netherlands posted 86, the same mark as England’s Aimi Bullock. However, the pair trail Germany’s Sräga by a shot.
Born with Achondroplasia, commonly called short stature, 25-year-old Sräga is making her Championship debut having competed for Germany in the European Team Championship last year.
The G4D Open – held in partnership between The R&A and the DP World Tour and supported by EDGA (formally the European Disabled Golf Association) – is one of the most inclusive ever staged. The Championship features nine sport classes across multiple impairment groups, with 80 men and women players of both amateur and professional status representing 20 countries.
Contested over three days until Saturday across 54 holes of gross stroke play, there will be overall men’s and women’s winners and a gross prize in each of the sport classes which cover various categories in Standing, Intellectual, Visual and Sitting.
Hayato Yoshida, one of four players from Japan, had the honour of striking the opening tee shot, while Popert caddied for the USA’s Chris Biggins, who carded a 79.
Off the course, a series of activations are taking place at Woburn this week to help drive inclusivity and growth in the sport. An innovative new device that can improve access to golf for those with arthritis and other conditions impacting hand functionality was trialled on the eve of the Championship, thanks to a growing collaboration between EDGA and prosthetics expert Koalaa.
UK-based Koalaa has a track record in developing tools that aid independence and participation in sports and other activities.
A unique hand tool to help players with varying arthritic conditions – available to the public later in the year – is strapped to the hand and attaches to a connecting device placed on the grip of the club. It could aid the retention of players and open up opportunities for new and returning golfers.
View the leaderboard in full from day one at The G4D Open here.
