This week, Woburn welcomes back numerous skilled golfers with disabilities for The G4D Open (15-17 May).
Established last year, this inclusive Championship, in partnership with the DP World Tour and The R&A and supported by EDGA (formerly the European Disabled Golf Association), features nine sport classes across various impairment groups.
With 80 competitors from 19 countries, including the USA, Australia, Canada, Japan, and South Africa, ranging in age from 15 to 68, both amateur and professional players will compete over Woburn’s renowned Duchess Course.
Over three days, players will compete across 54 holes of gross stroke play for various prizes, including overall winner, opposite sex winner, and gross prizes in each sport class covering Standing, Intellectual, Visual, and Sitting categories.
Brendan Lawlor, last year’s champion, returns, ranked second on the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD).
Lawlor, 27, who has Ellis–van Creveld syndrome, won by two shots in 2023, edging out Kipp Popert, the world number one, who has Spastic Diplegia.
“I’m looking forward to defending my title. The Championship gives every player an opportunity to showcase their talent on a world stage where a lot of eyes can watch and long may all that last. It was such a good event last year, probably the best run event we have ever played. For spectators, it’s an incredible opportunity to see some of the best players in the world doing abnormal things, you would never see it on your normal golf course – people with incredibly inspiring stories.”
Brendan Lawlor, Ireland
Fourteen of the world’s top 20 players, including all of the top five, will compete, with Daphne van Houten leading among female golfers.
Australia’s Wayne Perske, who played in The Open in 2006, makes his debut after winning the Scottish Open for Golfers with a Disability.
The English duo Martine and Heather Gilks will create history as the first mother and daughter pair to play in The G4D Open.
This tournament is part of the G4D Tour, which includes nine events across six countries in the 2024 season, organized by the DP World Tour.
Spectators are welcome at The G4D Open at Woburn, with free attendance and parking. Woburn has a history of hosting championships, including Final Qualifying for The Open from 2014 to 2017 and the AIG Women’s Open in 2019.
The G4D Open’s establishment aligns with the inclusion of Modified Rules of Golf for Players with Disabilities into the Rules of Golf and The R&A and USGA’s administration of the WR4GD.
View more information on The G4D Open here.
