World Number One Popert Leads After Opening Round

Browne pleased with effort

He continued, “I couldn’t get over it when we walked in yesterday, seeing all the faces on the branded boards. Even the fine details like your name on the range. The guys at The R&A, DP World Tour and EDGA have stepped up this year and I haven’t heard one person complain about being here. It’s a great event.”
Mike Browne – who had his left leg amputated following a service injury – also posted a 71, a hugely impressive effort given the Englishman double bogeyed the 5^th before rallying. 
“I’m happy,” stated Browne. “I’m not the best of players around this course to be fair, but anything around par I would take it and run. I’m really happy with that round. I’ve just got to work on some putting and we’re good to go.”
Australian Lachlan Wood is on level par, with South African David Watts and Johan Kammerstad from Sweden next best-placed on one-over.
Another English player Thomas Blizzard, 18, sat an A-Level exam yesterday but kept his focus to sit inside the top ten after a 76. Daphne van Houten from the Netherlands, the leading women’s player in the field, struck the opening tee shot on her way to an 82.

Honour to start Championship

Van Houten said, “It was amazing to hit the opening tee shot. With many people watching, and the nerves, it always feels nice to do that. I did hit a good one as well. It was amazing to do, plus getting a par on the first hole.”
Established last year, the Championship – held in partnership between The R&A and the DP World Tour and supported by EDGA (formally the European Disabled Golf Association) – is one of the most inclusive ever staged.
The G4D Open features nine sport classes across multiple impairment groups, with 80 men and women players of both amateur and professional status representing 19 countries.
Contested over three days until Friday across 54 holes of gross stroke play, there will be an overall winner, along with an opposite sex winner and a gross prize in each of the sport classes which cover various categories in Standing, Intellectual, Visual and Sitting.