'We want to make disability golf a mainstream sport'

Brendan Lawlor says he hopes his Irish Invitational event, in which the world's best golfers with disabilities competed for a prize fund worth almost £30,000, will "get the ball rolling" for the future of the sport.

Dundalk man Lawlor, 27, was the driving force behind the three-day tournament at Carton House in Co Kildare, with the aim of promoting disability golf.

Lawlor plays on the Golf for the Disabled (G4D) Tour, which was launched in 2022 and is operated by the DP World Tour.

There was 35,000 euros (£29,230) on offer this week, and Lawlor is keen to see big prizes on offer regularly in the sport.

"We needed someone to do it, to get it started everywhere else," said Lawlor.

"We're trying to prove to the DP World [Tour] that we're athletes. We train the same as Rory McIlroy, if not harder, with some of the limitations these guys have.

"We're trying to make disability golf a mainstream sport. And for the sick person in hospital that's 10 years old, I want them to see a future for them to get to a really good level of golf and they can make money from the game."

Lawlor has a rare condition called Ellis-van Creveld syndrome, a bone growth disorder that leads to shorter limbs and stature.

Having started his journey in golf six years ago, he has been a trailblazer, becoming the first disabled golfer to compete on the DP World Tour when he teed it up at the UK Championship in August 2020.

Having been told that large prize funds in disability golf were a "long way away", he decided to put together an event that showed his fellow competitors what could be possible in the future.

He says that it might "go nowhere" or "start a huge trend".

"We're trying to turn disability golf into what the PGA Tour is, what the DP World Tour is," added Lawlor, who is ranked second in the world.

"I guarantee you that when people see there is a prize fund, it will take them out of that hospital bed."

The tournament at Carton House was won by England's world number one Kipp Popert, who finished on nine-under, four shots ahead of Alan Gaynor second with Lawlor third.

While Popert's amateur status prevented him from picking up his winner's share of the prize fund, he was delighted to have featured in what he feels is an important week for disability golf.

"People that have known me since I was 11 years old know I've said I want to be a pro golfer," said Popert, 26, who was born with a form of cerebral palsy, external called spastic diplegia.

"The only reason I'm not pro is there isn't the opportunity for disabled golf. I'll be trying to do tour schools for the able-bodied stuff, but I don't believe that other disabled people shouldn't have the option to play for a living."