Staff WriterThe Amgen Irish Open at The K Club will have a different sort of electricity this weekend as Canadian golfer Chris Willis steps onto the tee box for the first time in a limited-field G4D Tour event. And if you know anything about Willis, you’ll know he’s not just turning up for the scenery.
The 44-year-old, who lives with VACTERL syndrome — a rare association of birth defects — has been a fixture at The G4D Open since its launch in 2023. But this Sunday marks a milestone: his debut in the tighter, ten-player format that defines the G4D Tour’s elite schedule.
“This is what I’ve been working towards since I started disability golf in 2022,” Willis said. “The idea that there is a series of events that lead to a season-ending tour championship was very motivating and an exciting prospect. It has definitely made me change around my life and make myself available for these tournaments.”
From Canada to Kildare
It was back in 2022, when the G4D Tour itself was born, that Willis began competing. Since then, he’s stitched together an impressive résumé: back-to-back Canadian All-Abilities Championships in 2023 and 2024, plus three G4D Open appearances — including a podium finish in 2023 sandwiched between two 12th-place results. Now ranked World Number 13 in the Gross Rankings, he has earned his ticket to Ireland.
This week’s Amgen Irish Open G4D field is as strong as they come. World Number One Kipp Popert headlines the line-up alongside local star Brendan Lawlor, who will no doubt have the crowds roaring at The K Club.
Italy’s Tommaso Perrino, England’s Mike Browne, and Australia’s Lachlan Wood add further firepower. For Willis, victory here is the only path to the season-ending G4D Tour Series Finale at the Rolex Grand Final in Mallorca.
No pressure, then.
Friendship and Rivalry
Adding a personal twist, fellow Canadian Kurtis Barkley — the man who first told Willis about the G4D Tour — is also in the field.
“It’s very special that he [Kurtis] is in the first G4D Tour event that I have qualified for since he was the first who mentioned it to me and opened the door in my imagination to what I could possibly do,” Willis said.
That kind of camaraderie is what sets the G4D Tour apart. Yes, the competition is fierce, but the bond between players is stronger still.
“The common cause that we have unites us. The common struggle, even though it might be a different struggle, unites us,” Willis explained.
Therapy on the Fairways
Willis credits a 2024 EDGA Player Development Camp in Portugal — supported annually by the European Tour Group — with preparing him not just for the golf, but for the spotlight. Media duties, social interactions, the intensity of the stage: it all comes with the territory now.
“One of the main effects of my disabilities is to stay at home, not really want to go out socially, or when I do it can become more intense than it might for most people,” he said. “It’s almost therapeutic in a sense that you come and you’re surrounded by people who are so positive with you. There’s no hiding, no pain, feeling of your disability.”
That balance of ruthless competition and unshakable camaraderie is the secret sauce of adaptive golf. And it’s exactly why the G4D Tour has quickly grown from a noble experiment into one of the most inspiring circuits in the sport.
Field for the G4D Tour @ Amgen Irish Open
- Kipp Popert (ENG)
- Brendan Lawlor (IRL)
- Lachlan Wood (AUS)
- Mike Browne (ENG)
- Tommaso Perrino (ITA)
- Issa Nlareb (ITA)
- Kurtis Barkley (CAN)
- Chris Willis (CAN)
- Ryanne Jackson (USA)
- Fiona Gray (IRL)
