Kipp Popert waggled his club, set it down behind his ball, took it back and whipped it forward, then watched his shot sail down the fairway before reaching down to grab his tee and walking over to his caddie. Around him, a gallery clapped. He was off. On a beautiful host course in Austria, he was playing his first-ever DP World Tour event.
He smiled, and if you’re familiar at all with how he arrived at this moment, you felt the edges of your mouth crack upward, too.
Popert is one of the world’s best disabled golfers. Diagnosed with a form of cerebral palsy that affects his lower body — ”basically if you were to do a calf raise in the gym, that’s sort of how my calves are the whole time,” he told the tournament’s social media account — the 27-year-old Englishman has won disabled golf events all around the world. Last year, he won the U.S. Adaptive Open for the third straight year. In 2022, he played in the R&A’s Amateur Championship. But until Thursday, he had never played on the formerly named European Tour.
An invite to this week’s Austrian Alpine Open then came, though the weeks leading up to the event have been difficult, after the recent shuttering of the DP World Tour’s Golf for the Disabled Tour. It had played for four seasons, and Popert was a 15-time winner. Of course, there was more to it than that, Popert said in a story written earlier this month by the Guardian’s Ewan Murray (that you can read here).
Popert wondered about future Kipp Poperts.
“In order for kids to see the future and to have inspiration on the tough days, the best players in the world need to be able to play regularly for a living,” Popert said in the Guardian story. “That’s what the DP World Tour set out to achieve and we are all really grateful to them. It is just a shame that the sport at the moment has stopped.
“Performance sells sport. When you look at male or female able‑bodied sports, it is the elite side of it that creates opportunities at grassroots. The narrative of inclusivity is amazing, but there needs to be an understanding that bringing the best players together is what brings a wow factor and hopefully sponsorship.”
Looking ahead, the DP World Tour said in the Guardian story it would organize the annual G4D Open, along with an event ahead of next year’s Ryder Cup, and Popert will play where he can, and there he was this week, among the world’s best. During Thursday’s first round, he parred his first hole, and he made three birdies on the back nine, including one on the 12th hole on a 44-foot putt that drew a fist-pump. Five bogeys and a double bogey stung, and he finished with a five-over 75. On Friday, Popert bogeyed the 11th hole, his second of the day after starting on the back nine. He bogeyed three others.
But he also birdied the 14th hole, after hitting his approach to 7 feet.
And he birdied the 16th, after his tee shot on the par-3 finished just off the left side of the green.
And he birdied that 1st hole, after dropping his second shot to 6 feet.
And he birdied the 3rd hole, on a 12-foot putt.
And he nearly eagled the 8th hole. His second shot, from the fairway, bounced a few times on the green, then his ball hit the center of the flagstick, ending up just a few inches away.
Added all up, that was five birdies and four bogeys and nine pars. A one-under 69. That wasn’t good enough to make the weekend. But it was good.
A while later, Popert posted to his Instagram account. It was from England Golf, congratulating him. There was also a photo.
He was smiling.
“Yeah,” Popert said on the tournament’s social media accounts. “I’m just grateful for the opportunity.”
