An inspirational story about a golfer born in Ukraine. And one born in Cameroon.
Fifteen champs.
And one club that may still be twirling.
The U.S. Adaptive Open’s third edition, played this week at Sand Creek Station in Newton, Kansas, didn’t have just one highlight. It featured a bunch. Here, then, are a few:
The story of Alex Fourie
We learned more about Alex Fourie, who competed in the upper limb impairment category, about 32 years after he was born in Ukraine without a right arm and with a cleft lip and palate that would eventually require 22 surgeries.
From sleeping on the streets after losing his mom to multiple amputations in 2018, Issa Nlareb has found meaning in life through golf. pic.twitter.com/1FitX6ZvQj
Bailey Bish, competing in the neurological division, was the women’s overall winner. These two exchanges, both started by a reporter, were great:
“I know you talked about not even being able to finish nine holes before, let alone a 54-hole tournament. Obviously played well and won some tournaments over the last year. You still kind of feel the nerves when you get into a final round in a situation like this, or are you a lot more settled than you may have been a couple years ago?”
“I don’t really feel nerves,” Bish said Tuesday. “I feel excitement, and just taking it one shot at a time and playing from point ‘A’ allows me to deal with whatever happens and not get too emotionally invested in the outcome.”
“What did you learn about yourself this week?”
“I learned that it’s hard to play golf,” Bish said Wednesday, “and even if there are challenges, you can push back and keep going. The mistakes will get overwritten by other accomplishments.”
The best quote form the men’s overall winner
Kipp Popert, competing in the neurological division, was the men’s overall winner for the second-straight year. I loved this exchange, started by a reporter:
“Your name will be in the USGA Hall of Champions for the second time. What’s that mean, just to be alongside all of the game’s greats?”
“Yeah, when I’m 70 years old with a bottle of wine,” Popert said, “I’m hoping and working towards being recognized as a great of the game, so I’ve got a lot more to achieve.”
The winners
A list of the 15 winners from the eight categories can be found below, and below that are the top three scores in the overall competition. Complete leaderboards can be found here (men’s overall), here (women’s overall), here (men’s category) and here (women’s category).
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.
