G4D Tour announces expanded 2023 schedule
Rasmus Lia. Picture: Getty Images
The G4D Tour (Golf for the Disabled Tour) today announces its 2023 global schedule, with an expanded calendar of eight tournaments in six countries.
Launched in 2022 with an initial seven-event schedule, the G4D Tour sees the world’s best golfers with a disability compete on the same course, the same week, as professionals on the DP World Tour.
The 2023 season will see additional uplifts to the G4D Tour, including the introduction of a season-long Order of Merit to crown the Number One player.
Each G4D Tour event is open to amateurs and professional players of all eligible impairments, men and women. For 2023, players will be able to qualify from both their ranking on the gross division of the World Ranking for Golfers with a Disability (WR4GD) and events on the European Disabled Golf Association (EDGA) Tour, ensuring an international pathway to reach the G4D Tour. The European Tour group pays the expenses of players as they travel around the world, to ensure that the Tour is open to all players regardless of their financial circumstances.
To be eligible, all players must have a World Ranking for Golfers with a Disability and an EDGA Player Pass. Since the G4D Tour launched earlier this year, applications for a World Ranking and Player Pass have reached record levels, with 20% of all passes secured in 2022 alone – showing the impact the G4D Tour is having on raising awareness and increasing participation. The DP World Tour will continue to utilise its social media channels, and relationships with global broadcasters, to showcase the G4D Tour on a range of media platforms throughout the 2023 season.
This year’s inaugural season, which had its finale at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, saw England’s Kipp Popert win four G4D Tour titles and regain his position as World Number One on the WR4GD. The other tournament winners were England’s Mike Browne, Italy’s Tommaso Perrino and Sweden’s Rasmus Lia. Players from ten different nationalities competed, showing the international reach of the Tour.
The Australian All Abilities Championship, starting on Friday December 2, will be the first event of the 2023 G4D Tour season, with World Number One Popert leading the field of 12 competitors teeing it up at Victoria Golf Club. The Australian All Abilities Championship forms part of a festival of golf on Australia’s world-renowned sandbelt, taking place concurrently with the ISPS HANDA Australian men’s and women’s Opens.
The tournament will be played across three rounds at Victoria Golf Club, with World Number Two Brendan Lawlor and Spaniard Juan Postigo Arce, ranked fourth on the WR4GD also competing. World Number 12 Geoff Nicholas leads the home charge, having made history in 2019 as the first amputee golfer to qualify for The Senior Open presented by Rolex at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
Speaking about the enhanced 2023 schedule Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour group, said: “The G4D Tour has been a tremendous success since it launched earlier this year. We have seen unprecedented numbers of golfers with a disability enquire about playing on the Tour and getting a World Ranking, thanks to the ability for these inspirational players to play Tour level courses next to the best players on the DP World Tour.
“We have developed a very close relationship with EDGA and the European Tour group will continue to support the association in its focus on developing capacity within the golf industry, through a variety of education and development activities. I firmly believe that golf has the potential to be the most inclusive sport in the world and the G4D Tour is a major step in realising this ambition.”
Tony Bennett, President of EDGA, added: “The G4D Tour is the visible manifestation of EDGA’s development of golf for the disabled – a process that started 22 years ago. Since our first collaboration with the European Tour group and DP World Tour, there has been exponential growth at all levels. The G4D Tour has created greater awareness and resulted in a cascade effect with more tournaments at every level, more national federations building accessible activities, and of course, more grassroots programmes than ever before. The support that the European Tour group and DP World Tour provide to EDGA helps make all of this possible.”
2023 G4D Tour schedule
Dec 2-4, 2022 Australian All Abilities Championship @ ISPS HANDA Australian Open, Victoria Golf Club, Australia
Jan 13-14, 2023 G4D Tour @ Hero Cup, Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Abu Dhabi
Feb 6-7, 2023 G4D Tour @ Singapore Classic, Laguna National Golf Resort Club, Singapore,
TBC, Event TBC, TBC
Jun 5-6, 2023 G4D Tour @ Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed, Ullna Golf & Country Club, Sweden
Jun 26-27, 2023 G4D Tour @ Betfred British Masters, The Belfry, England
Aug 14-16, 2023, G4D Tour @ ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics, Galgorm Castle Golf Club, Northern Ireland
Sep 11-12, 2023, G4D Tour @ BMW PGA Championship, a Rolex Series Event, Wentworth Club,
EnglandNov 10-11, 2023, G4D Tour @ DP World Tour Championship, a Rolex Series Event, Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai
