England Golf Disability Squad star Kipp Popert has won the US Adaptive Open Championship for the fourth consecutive time, after a blistering performance at Woodmont Country Club in Maryland.
Three-time defending champion Popert fired a final round 63 for a 54-hole total of 18-under-par, six strokes ahead of 2022 champion Simon Lee and nine strokes clear of Americans Max Togisala and Justin Carlock.
The victory etches Popert’s name even further into the golfing history books, as he becomes the first male player to win the same USGA championship four years in a row.
“I’m extremely pleased and extremely proud of all the hard work I put in,” said Popert, 28, who hails from Kent and is a member at Wildernesse Golf Club and Royal Cinque Ports. “To play the way I did today is what dreams are made of.”
Popert, who was born with cerebral palsy and has undergone multiple surgeries on his lower body, said during the trophy presentation on Golf Channel that he was thinking about the magnitude of his four-peat last night and decided that he “really wanted it.” That focus was clear from the early going of the final round.
Popert was paired with his closest pursuer, 31-year-old Carlock, who made an early statement with an eagle on the par-5 3rd hole.
“Yeah, it started off with a couple fireworks,” said Carlock, a PGA assistant professional who was born with a condition that caused his fingers and hands to fuse differently. “I was almost pin high right and pitched it in from about 35 yards. So that kind of got us jump-started.”
Popert, however, wasn’t going to fall back to the pack. After Carlock’s early eagle, Popert answered his opponent’s birdie with the first of three straight birdies, and made the turn in a 6-under 30. While Carlock, a first-time competitor, added another front-nine birdie, he was unable to mount a substantial charge after that and went on to shoot 3-under 69 and tied for third at 9-under.
This year’s US Adaptive Championship featured 96 players from 34 US states and nine countries. The USGA received 250 entries, and 18-hole qualifiers were conducted at eight sites around the United States. The youngest player in the field was 15-year-old Tommy Morrissey from Florida, while the oldest was 76-year-old Dennis Walters, also from Florida.
The players fall into a range of eight impairment categories, comprising Intellectual Impairment, Lower Limb Impairment, Multiple Limb Amputee, Coordination Impairment, Seated Players, Short Stature, Upper Limb Impairment and Vision Impairment.
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