English golfer Kipp Popert has aspirations of becoming the first disabled player to win a golfing major.
The 24-year-old, who has a form of cerebral palsy called spastic diplegia that affects his lower body, wants to make history by winning the Masters and The Open.
Popert used plastic golf clubs as a child to stop himself falling over, but soon father Rick noticed his son's golf swing and started taking him down the driving range.
His golfing journey hasn't been straight forward as the youngster needed 10 major operations to reduce pain and increase mobility in his legs and feet. The operations meant Popert had to re-adjust or re-learn his swing.
"It’s just a sport I've always loved because I think you need your legs a little bit, so it’s a sport where I couldn’t hide," said Popert talking to ITV News.
"If I was playing somebody who was more able that me, I saw that as an awesome opportunity to beat them and get better."
Now the 24-year-old is ranked world number one disabled golfer after winning four events on the Golf for the Disabled Tour (G4D) which is closely linked to the DP World Tour. He also posted a bogey-free round of 66 to win at St Andrew's last year.
Popert has always risen to the challenge of playing against more abled opponents and now wants to move into the professional game.
"I want to be recognised as one of the highest over-achievers in sport, I think that would be pretty cool," he added. "In five years time I would like to have won multiple times in professional events and probably be known as one of the world’s best golfers with a disability and without, and winning a major would be lovely and I truly believe I could do that.
The newly named G4D Tour was expanded this year from five to seven events and runs alongside the DP World Tour playing on the same courses as the DP World Tour professionals.
Popert wants to create a pathway for disabled golfers into the professional game. He added: "For me the most important thing is to achieve my personal aims so that eventually I can help grow disability sports because I’ve had every opportunity and playing disability sport is expensive and there are people who aren’t as lucky as me so I want to be able to create a pathway to professional golf for people with a disability.
