Kipp Popert has taken a two-stroke advantage into the final round of the G4D Tour @ Magical Kenya Open following brilliant displays at Muthaiga Golf Club.
The Englishman mixed seven birdies with one bogey in a round of 66 to sit at six under par after the opening day’s play of the two-round event at Muthaiga Golf Club, the first to be staged in Africa.
Popert, the world’s leading golfer with a disability is targeting an unprecedented ninth title on the circuit on his very first appearance on Kenyan soil.
The G4D stars are tussling in a two-day 36-hole strokeplay championship which ends on Tuesday to pave the way for Wednesday's Pro-Am and event proper from Thursday to Sunday.
Lachlan Wood, who won his maiden G4D Tour title at the ISPS HANDA Australian All Abilities Championship on home soil in December, sits solo second on three under, two shots better off than Irishman Brendan Lawlor and Spaniard Juan Postigo Arce.
After opening with a birdie at the first, Popert made a double bogey at the par-three second but quickly seized the initiative with four birdies in a five-hole stretch from the fourth.
He soon added another gain at the tenth to reach four under, before a birdie at the 16th saw him post the lowest round of the season so far.
Ten of the world’s best golfers with a disability are in action at the second Gross tournament on the 2023/24 schedule, and Popert will still face competition if he does not capitalize on his fine start.
Wood, who sustained multiple injuries including a shattered and shorter left leg as a teenager, was the only player in the field to be bogey-free as he made birdies at the seventh, 13th and 17th in his impressive 68.
Lawlor mixed three birdies with two bogeys in his 70, a total matched by fellow G4D Tour winner Postigo Arce as he combined five birdies with four bogeys.
Marcella Neggers, one of two Dutch female players in the field alongside women's World Number One Daphne van Houten, retired during her opening round with an injury.
G4D Tour Leader Board
1 POPERT, Kipp -5
2 WOOD, Lachlan -3
3= L AWLOR, Brendan-1
3=POSTIGO ARCE, Juan- 1
5 BIGGINS, ChrisP AR
6 =BROWN, Mike +3
6=BARKLEY, Kurtis+3
8 PERRINO, Tommaso +6
9.VAN HOUTEN, Daphne. +10
NEGGERS, Marcella+19 (retired)
