Tiger Woods has fresh company in the USGA record books after Kipp Popert won the U.S. Adaptive Open for a third straight year, becoming just the fourth male player in history to win the same USGA championship three times in a row.
The 27-year-old from England joins Woods, who remains the only person to accomplish the feat in two different championships – the 1991-93 U.S. Junior Amateur and 1994-96 U.S. Amateur. Carl Kauffmann (1927-29 U.S. Amateur Public Links) and Willie Anderson (1903-05 U.S. Open) are the others who have won the same championship three consecutive years.
“It’s definitely been on my mind,” said Popert, who has cerebral palsy that affects his lower extremities, about the chance to make history with a three-peat. “When I had surgery this year and my foot wasn’t getting better, I wasn’t looking forward to the thought of not being able to try. To come here and play the way I did, I’m really pleased.
“I also can’t thank my caddie Ben [Armstrong] enough. He’s been on the bag for all three, so he’s won three as well.”
Joining Popert in the winner’s circle is Kim Moore, another familiar face in the history of this championship. Moore, 44, of the United States, started the day three strokes out of the lead but played a steady, solid round to overtake Cassie Sengul and become the first two-time female champion of the U.S. Adaptive Open. She won the inaugural title in 2022 at Pinehurst No. 6.
“It feels just as good as the first time,” said a beaming Moore, who was born without a right foot and a slight case of spina bifida. “This was definitely something I was looking forward to and hoping to accomplish, and it’s just nice to be able to be on top again.”
Brendan Lawlor played alongside Popert in the final group, but having begun the day 10 back, he was always facing an uphill challenge. The Dundalk man struggled early on, but found three birdies in his final three holes to ensure he returned three rounds in red figures but had to settle for fourth at -9 with Australia’s Lachlan Wood and Simon Lee of Korean sharing second at -12.
Lawlor may have won the Short Stature Category by 17 strokes and goes home with a Gold Medal regardless, but it was the Men’s Overall Category he was targeting and he’ll be disappointed not to have made the podium, especially as he went into the final round sharing second place. But he had to hold his hands up and say that Popert, who romped to a 12-stroke win, was just on a different level this week.
“He [Kipp Popert] is a competitor at heart,” Lawlor said. “Any event he goes into he is up there, raring to go. To shoot those scores on a course like this is silly. You just have to give credit to good golf.”
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