G4D Open: Brendan Lawlor leads Kipp Popert ahead of final round

Defending champion Brendan Lawlor and world number one Kipp Popert will again battle it out for the G4D Open in Friday’s final round.

Irishman Lawlor hit a second successive 71 to move to two under and swap places with England’s Popert, the top-ranked disability golfer.

Popert, who led overnight on four under, carded a 75 on a damp day at Woburn to fall one shot behind Lawlor.

Despite shooting a three-over-par round, the 25-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, said: “I’m excited because I know I’m playing well.

“I didn’t get frustrated, I trusted myself. I’ll just stick to my gameplan and we’ll have a nice battle.”

Lawlor, who has a rare condition called Ellis-van Creveld syndrome that is characterised by a short stature and short limbs, beat Popert by two shots to win last year’s inaugural title.

He said: “If Kipp goes out and shoots six under there’s nothing I can do.

“But I want to go out and shoot an under-par round and see where it leaves me. It’s going to be exciting.”

Canadian Chris Willis is in third on four over, while 18-year-old Englishman Thomas Blizzard, who sat an A-level exam on Tuesday, is a shot further back.

Dutchwoman Daphne van Houten is the leading women’s player in a share of 24th place.

The championship is held in partnership between the DP World Tour and the R&A and supported by EDGA – formally the European Disabled Golf Association. It features 80 men and women, aged 15-68, playing in nine sport classes across multiple impairment groups.

An overall champion will be crowned, as well as an opposite sex winner, with a gross prize in each of the sport classes which cover various categories in standing, intellectual, visual and sitting.