Brendan Lawlor will look to defend his crown at this week’s G4D Open, being held at the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales for the first time.
Leading golfers with a disability are set to compete on the world stage at the fourth edition of the Championship after three years at Woburn.
The G4D Open, staged in partnership with The R&A and the DP World Tour and supported by EDGA, is one of the most inclusive championships ever held.
Eighty men and women players of amateur and professional status will compete across 54 holes of gross stroke play at the renowned Roman Road Course, with overall men’s and women’s winners and trophies earned in each of the nine sport classes across the recognised impairment groups which cover Standing, Intellectual, Visual and Sitting.
The global field features representatives from 25 nations, five more than last year. The age range of players goes from the youngest in Sweden’s 16-year-old Ville Engqvist to Japan’s 70-year-old Shigeru Kobayashi as the oldest participant.
“This is my favourite event of the year, I love coming back. It gets a lot of coverage on TV and it’s important for people to see what we can do,” said Lawlor ahead of the event.
“The course looks quite open, a little bit different to Woburn. It looks like you can open up the shoulders a bit more this week. I’ll try and take advantage of the downwind holes, get it in the air. I’ll try to score and put myself in the last group on Saturday.”
In a first for the Championship, there will be a cut to the leading 20 overall men and ties and top ten overall women and ties. In addition, the top three men in each sport class (if applicable) and top two women in each sport class (if applicable) will also qualify for the third and final round.
A range of demonstration and education activities are also taking place to underline how inclusive and accessible golf can be. Delegates from across the golf, health and sport industry, including national golf federations, are meeting to learn more about the G4D landscape.
“The work The R&A and DP World Tour have done at this Championship is truly incredible,” added Lawlor. “From the very first year, from Woburn, to where it is now. The most different thing I see is the amount of new players we have, and who are going to be contesting at the end of the week.
The 29-year-old Carton House man who has a rare condition called Ellis–van Creveld syndrome, claimed a four-stroke win last year to add to his title success in 2023 and he is raring to go as he hunts a third G4D Open title.
“I’m playing well. I’ve done a lot of travelling at the start of the year and been in Australia and America. I’ve been playing a lot of golf, probably more of a busier winter than I’d usually have. It’s nice to get out and just feel ready coming here.”
Lawlor is part of a five-strong Irish contingent including teenage debutant Conal Flynn of Athenry.
“There’s a guy actually from Ireland, Conal Flynn, who is 17. I did a video with him a few years ago in Ireland. He has dwarfism, same as me, and he’s playing here this week. Stories like that, to see the young generation come up, is great.”
Leave a comment