Staff WriterBrendan Lawlor, one of golf’s most fearless trailblazers, is back in the driver’s seat at the G4D Open—and if day one at Woburn is anything to go by, he’s steering straight for title number two.
The Irishman, who claimed the inaugural title in 2023, carded an eventful level-par 72 over the chilly, windswept Duchess Course to take a two-shot lead heading into Friday.
Brendan Lawlor’s round was a cocktail of brilliance and grit: five birdies, five bogeys, and not a single complaint.
He opened with a 25-foot dagger on the first—just to let everyone know he hadn’t come to admire the rhododendrons.
“It’s great to be back here,” Lawlor said earlier this week, and his play is making sure everyone else remembers he’s the man to beat.
Brendan Lawlor, Ireland
“I feel I’m playing the best golf I’ve kind of played in a long time, especially on the greens. My ball-striking is pretty good enough when I get to tournaments but the greens let me down usually. If I can keep the way I’m putting up for the next two days, hopefully I can go back out and win the trophy.
“The weather looks good for the next two days but it could blow. I want to finish the event under par. Probably one or two-over wouldn’t be too far away either.”
Diagnosed with Ellis–van Creveld syndrome, a rare genetic condition affecting bone growth and limb length, Lawlor has long been at the forefront of inclusive golf—not that he wants your pity or your pedestal.
What he wants is the trophy, and with last year’s champion Kipp Popert sidelined by foot surgery, Lawlor isn’t wasting the opportunity.
Trailing him by two are Australia’s Lachlan Wood and Danish newcomer Frederik Brokfelt-Christiansen, both in at two-over 74.
Wood, 34, is no stranger to adversity either, having undergone multiple leg surgeries following a car accident at 16. Brokfelt-Christiansen, just 18 and the youngest in the field, has climbed into the world top 50 despite scoliosis. For a guy making his G4D debut, he didn’t blink.
A pair of Thomases—France’s Colombel and England’s Blizzard—sit a shot further back on 75, still very much in the hunt.
On the women’s side, the leaderboard is tight. Jennifer Sräga, Germany’s 25-year-old debutant born with Achondroplasia, snuck ahead with an 85, edging past last year’s champion Daphne van Houten and England’s Aimi Bullock by a single shot.
Sräga is new to the G4D Open but no stranger to pressure, having represented Germany at the European Team Championship last year. The nerves? She left those back on the Continent.
The G4D Open—co-hosted by The R&A and the DP World Tour, and backed by EDGA—is arguably the most inclusive event ever staged in golf.
With 80 players from 20 countries competing across nine sport classes, the field includes standing, intellectual, visual, and sitting categories, in both amateur and professional divisions.
Across 54 holes of gross stroke play, running until Saturday, there will be men’s and women’s champions crowned, as well as class-specific honours. It’s elite competition—minus the exclusivity.
Japan’s Hayato Yoshida had the honour of launching the first tee shot, while sidelined champion Kipp Popert showed true class by picking up a caddie bib to support American player Chris Biggins, who posted a 79.
But the action isn’t confined to the fairways. A pioneering adaptive hand tool developed by UK prosthetics firm Koalaa was unveiled on the eve of the event.
The device, designed for golfers with arthritis or hand-function impairments, attaches to the grip of a club and is due for public release later this year. It’s a small step for Koalaa, a giant leap for golf accessibility.
Spectators can catch the action live at Woburn, with free admission and parking. As golf scrambles to keep up with the times, the G4D Open is proof that the game is better when it opens its arms.
And Brendan Lawlor? He’s already halfway to doing it again—writing a legacy not in sympathy, but in scorecards and steel.
For full scoring and updates from The G4D Open, visit the official site here.
