U.S. ADAPTIVE OPEN

Records Fall at Sand Creek Station as Popert (65) and Bish (69) Lead After First Round

By Greg Midland, USGA

| Jul 08, 2024 | Newton, Kan.

Records Fall at Sand Creek Station as Popert (65) and Bish (69) Lead After First Round

Roughly 24 hours before he tapped in for par on the 18th hole to finish a historic first round in the 3rd U.S. Adaptive Open, Kipp Popert projected an air of confidence during a pre-championship interview.

“I think the scoring could be pretty good this week,” said the 25-year-old with cerebral palsy, who won the men’s overall title last year at Pinehurst No. 6. Clearly, his premonition was as accurate as his tee shots.

Popert carded six birdies and an eagle, offset by just one bogey, to shoot a sparkling 7-under-par 65 at Sand Creek Station to lead by two strokes over Juan Postigo (lower limb impairment) of Spain. The 65 sets a championship record for lowest single round, two strokes better than the first-round 67 turned in by Conor Stone in 2023.

“Anyone likes to shoot 7 under, so I’m chuffed,” said Popert. “This course is set up for scoring. There is not too much rough, and the fairways for me coming from Europe are massive. My strengths are wedge play and putting, and I got to do a lot of that today.”

Postigo, playing in his first U.S. Adaptive Open, also had six birdies on the day.

“I played pretty solid during the round,” he said. “Hit driver very well and that’s a key around here. If you are in the fairway you have many wedges into the greens.

Postigo also spoke about how different it was to compete alongside players with different impairment categories

“You can understand the greatness of the game we play, that really everyone can play the game of golf. It doesn’t matter your disability, age or gender. So I think you realize how good golf is.”

Defending men's champion Kipp Popert, 25, of England, set a new championship scoring record with a 7-under 65 on Monday. (Kathryn Riley/USGA)

Defending men's champion Kipp Popert, 25, of England, set a new championship scoring record with a 7-under 65 on Monday. (Kathryn Riley/USGA)

Bailey Bish, 24, of Tucson, Ariz., is making her second start in the U.S. Adaptive Open, which features a 96-player field representing eight distinct impairment categories. Bish leads the women’s overall division after a 3-under 69, which is also a new championship record. The previous best round by a female competitor was a 73 shot last year by Kim Moore.

“I had a great round today,” said Bish. “I started off a little rough with a bogey and then a par and another bogey, but I pulled it together and was able to finish strong. My previous personal best score was a 71 and today I beat that.”

Bish’s round is even more remarkable because she had physical difficulty playing even 18 holes as recently as two years ago, let alone a full championship. Bish has dystonia, a neurological movement disorder that causes involuntary muscle contractions.

“Yeah, I remember two years ago watching this tournament on TV and being unable to play because I couldn’t play 54 holes at the time,” she said. “To do all this hard work and see that it's really paid off, it's incredible. Between physical therapy and other treatments that I’ve been receiving, I’ve improved a lot physically.”

Defending overall women’s champion Ryanne Jackson (neurological impairment), of Seminole, Fla., shot a 3-over 75 to stand in second place, six strokes behind Bish, as did 2022 overall women’s champion Kim Moore (lower limb impairment), of Portage, Mich.

First-time U.S. Adaptive Open competitor Juan Postigo, of Spain, carded a 5-under 67 in the first round to stay close to the lead. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)

First-time U.S. Adaptive Open competitor Juan Postigo, of Spain, carded a 5-under 67 in the first round to stay close to the lead. (Jeff Haynes/USGA)

Similarly, Popert and Postigo have a number of accomplished players who are in close pursuit. One stroke behind Postigo at 4-under 68 are Chad Pfiefer (lower limb impairment), of Nampa, Idaho, and 2022 overall men’s champion Simon Lee (intellectual impairment) of Korea. Also recording rounds in the 60s today were Brendan Lawlor (short stature) of Ireland, and Evan Mathias (multiple limb amputee), of Indianapolis, Ind., who turned in matching 69s. They were among 10 players to finish under par today on the par-72 course.

As they did today, Golf Channel will provide highlights, live look-ins, interviews and analysis from reporter Andy Stevenson on Golf Today (1-3 p.m. ET) and Golf Central (5-6 p.m. ET) during Tuesday’s second round.

What’s Next

Round 2 will take place on Tuesday, with tee times again beginning at 7:30 a.m. and continuing through 9:42 a.m. After the completion of the second round, a cut will be made and the following players will return for the final round on Wednesday: top 20 overall male players plus ties; top 10 overall female players plus ties; top 3 men plus ties from each impairment category; top 2 women plus ties from each impairment category; and any player within 5 strokes of the leader in their impairment category.

Defending overall women's champion Ryanne Jackson, of Seminole, Fla., shot a first-round 75 to stand six strokes behind Bish's lead. (Kathryn Riley/USGA)

Defending overall women's champion Ryanne Jackson, of Seminole, Fla., shot a first-round 75 to stand six strokes behind Bish's lead. (Kathryn Riley/USGA)

 

Notable

Mandi Sedlak, 44, of Kearny, Neb., and Kirk Holmberg, 56, the only player from Kansas in the field, had the honor of playing the first shots of the championship from the first and 10th holes, respectively. Sedlak, who had her lower leg amputated below the knee at age 21, co-founded Women’s Orthotics & Prosthetics and Prosthetic Health Services with her husband. Said Holmberg, “The whole experience has been amazing. It’s such a big time event, and to have it here this close [to home] is really cool.”   

Thomas Duffy, 25, of Utica, Ill., and Max Togisala, 20, of South Ogden, Utah, are currently 1-2 in the seated players division after rounds of 75 for Duffy and 76 for Togisala in the first round. Last year at Pinehurst No. 6, Togisala set a scoring mark for seated players by shooting a 2-under-par 70.

The par-5 16th hole yielded four eagles today, to Kipp PopertSimon Lee, Eli Villanueva and Ryan Brenden. Popert made his 3 by hitting a 7-iron from 170 yards out to 30 feet, and sinking his longest putt of the day. Brenden chipped in for eagle from just in front of the green. Another eagle was made by Robert Walden, of Mesa, Ariz., on the par-5 second hole, his 11th hole of the day. 

The youngest player in the field is 15-year-old Ryder Barr, of Celina, Texas, who has an upper limb impairment. Barr shot a first-round 80 to stand in a tie for 46th place, and a tie for sixth in his impairment category.

Quotable

“It definitely helps when you have other people in the group who are playing really well.  It’s nice to feed off them. Brendan [Lawlor] came out the gate and birdied the first two holes and then just kind of kept it going. Watching him play was great. Bailey [Bish] was amazing. I mean, she was just steady the whole day and made some great putts. Really fun to see her shoot that career-best round.” – Chad Pfiefer (lower limb impairment), 42, Nampa, Idaho.; first-round 68

“Overall I’m not disappointed in how I played. I feel like didn’t make any birdies out there, so I think there were definitely some opportunities. I got up and down a good amount of times and kept the ball out of trouble on most holes.” – Ryanne Jackson (neurological impairment), 26, Seminole, Fla., first-round 75

“My dad says when I play stroke play I’m usually really bad, so my mindset was to play match play against another person, one of the other guys from the group, in my mind. That’s how I got through because I’m very good with match play.” – Vince Biser (neurological impairment), 36, of Baltimore, Md.; first-round 73

“I started on Hole 10 and was 4 under after nine but then I got to Hole 1 and started losing a lot of my shots left. But I putted really well today and my game is in really good shape. You can't win it today but you can definitely lose it. So I’m going to go out and try and shoot a number tomorrow and give myself a chance for last day.” – Brendan Lawlor (short stature), 32, of Republic of Ireland; first-round 69

“I love your food, guys. The players’ lounge with those burgers, I just love that. Everything is very well organized. I think they’ve managed to make the golf course accessible to all the players in the field, which is something pretty important on this occasion. And there are so many volunteers helping us around, which is very good and very helpful.” – Juan Postigo (lower limb impairment), of Spain; first-round 67

Greg Midland is the editorial director at the USGA. You can email him at gmidland@usga.org.