G4D Open champion, Brendan Lawlor, is excited to tap into the potential of disability golf in Ireland after Golf Ireland announced a partnership with ISPS Handa on Tuesday.
This innovative new agreement will see ISPS Handa become the title sponsor of the ISPS Handa Irish Open for Golfers with a Disability. The 2024 event will take place at Roganstown Golf Club, County Dublin and will see golfers with a range of disabilities competing against players from Ireland and overseas. In addition ISPS Handa will become the lead partner of Golf Ireland’s Golf4All programmes.
The Golf Ireland Golfers with a Disability team are reigning European Champions having secured the title at Koksijde Golf ter Hille last year. The team of Brendan Lawlor, Aidan Grenham, Alan Gaynor and Conor Stone were resounding winners in Belgium and were present in Elm Park for the partnership launch.
This year, Lawlor, who is also an ISPS Handa ambassador, backed that up when he won the inaugural G4D Open at Woburn in England. The Louth man is currently second in the World Rankings for Golfers with Disability and is very optimistic for the future of disability golf believing Ireland can become an industry in the sport.
“It’s extremely exciting, I’m very lucky to have worked very closely with ISPS Handa for the last four years and what they believe in through the power of sport is a prime example of what we do in golf. I’m delighted and honoured to be an ambassador and the combination with Golf Ireland is huge, not just for the elite side but for getting people into the game and getting the message out there, it’s fantastic.
“We need that backing from guys like ISPS Handa to push that message out for us. Golf Ireland have been amazing but we want to get to that next level and get two European teams into the Team Championships and get 100-200 players with a disability in Ireland at every level and that’s what this partnership is going to do.”
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