Staff WriterThe G4D Open has found itself a proper final-round dust-up at Celtic Manor Resort, with Cameroon’s Issa Nlareb A Amang and Korea’s Simon Seungmin Lee turning day two into something rather more lively than a polite stroll around the Roman Road Course.
On a brighter, kinder day in Wales, the pair produced the first under-par rounds of the week and, in doing so, shoved their way to the front of the men’s Championship. Not rudely, you understand. Just with the sort of golf that tends to make leaderboards sit up straighter.
Nlareb A Amang signed for a two-under 68, while Seungmin Lee went one better with a 67, complete with an eagle at the 9th and only one dropped shot, rather inconveniently, at the last.
That leaves Nlareb A Amang leading on one-over-par after 36 holes, with Seungmin Lee a single stroke behind. In a field stacked with international quality and no shortage of resilience, the G4D Open now has precisely what every Championship wants before the final day: tension, talent, and just enough uncertainty to make everyone grip the putter a fraction tighter.
Debutants Take The Stage At Celtic Manor
With England’s Kipp Popert, the number one player on the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability, and two-time G4D Open winner Brendan Lawlor both in the conversation after round one, the script appeared to be leaning toward familiar names.
Then golf did what golf does. It threw the script into a bunker and asked someone else to play the next shot.
Nlareb A Amang, 35, made six birdies in a superb second round, repairing the damage from a difficult opening day on the greens. His story is already remarkable. A professional golfer before 2018, he suffered bacterial meningitis that led to a double leg amputation and severely damaged hands. Since then, the world number seven has battled back to health and arrived in Wales having won last month’s EDGA Tour Pas de Calais in France.
There is nothing ornamental about his golf. It has purpose, rhythm and, on day two, a putting stroke that appeared to have made peace with the Roman Road Course.
“I feel happy every day playing golf. I enjoyed the round because yesterday I played so badly on the greens. Afterwards, I went to do some practice putting and this worked this morning.
“We’ll see tomorrow. I’m happy because it will be my first time to play with Simon. My objective for this event was to see all the players. I’m in the world rankings but I don’t know the players. I wanted to come here and play with the good players in the world this week. Tomorrow is another day where I’ll try to give my best.”
Seungmin Lee Brings The Chase
Seungmin Lee, meanwhile, is hardly sneaking about anonymously. The 28-year-old world number two, who is autistic, won the US Adaptive Open in 2022 and has already built a CV that would make most trophy cabinets creak.
He won the 2025 ISPS HANDA Australian All Abilities Championship and has claimed the Glico Paragolf Championship in Japan three years running. At Celtic Manor, he looked every inch the player capable of adding another notable title to the list.
His 67 was the round of the Championship so far. The eagle at the 9th was the headline act, but his chipping and putting did much of the quiet, effective work.
“I’m happy. All of the shots, especially my chipping and my putting, were good. It went well. I’m proud to be here. It’s my first time in the UK but the weather is very changeable. It’s sunny, and then it’s rainy, then gets nasty. It’s very changeable weather.
“Maybe I can win tomorrow, yeah. I have a feeling. We’re going to play tomorrow aggressively, attack every hole, all 18 holes. That’s the strategy for tomorrow.”
That is not so much a game plan as a warning label.
The Chasers Refuse To Disappear
Behind the leading pair, Australia’s Lachlan Wood sits next best on seven-over after opening his second round with three birdies in his first seven holes.
Popert remains on eight-over, while Lawlor is nine-over alongside Canada’s Kiefer Jones and Turkey’s Mehmet Kazan. The top nine players represent nine different countries, which gives the G4D Open leaderboard the feel of a United Nations meeting where everyone has turned up carrying wedges.
It also says plenty about the depth of adaptive golf. This is not a two-player race by reputation alone. Celtic Manor has teeth, weather has moods, and final rounds have a habit of rearranging people’s plans without asking.
Sräga Leads As Van Houten Hunts A Hat-Trick
In the women’s Championship, Germany’s Jennifer Sräga holds a one-shot lead over defending champion Daphne van Houten of the Netherlands.
Sräga, who finished second in the women’s overall Championship last year on debut, posted an 82 for a 36-hole total of 163. Born with achondroplasia, commonly called short stature, the 26-year-old has again put herself in position to contend.
“My performance was okay today. One shot worse than yesterday, but I think yesterday was tougher because of the rain, then wind, rain and then sunny. Today maybe I was a little bit tired but I’m one shot in front. I think it’s a good start for tomorrow.
“Now we have played the course three times, we know the spots where to put the ball or where not to put the ball. So I’m more sure playing this course. It’s always my aim to be first, beat others and show them how good I am. It’s good motivation and I’m looking forward to it tomorrow.”
Van Houten, though, is not merely lurking. She is chasing history.
The Dutch player is aiming for a third consecutive women’s title after back-to-back victories at Woburn in 2024 and 2025. Her second-round 78, including a birdie at the 2nd, brought her back within striking distance.
“It was a lot better today than yesterday. Yesterday I was struggling a lot because it was much colder, and then my back is much more stiff and it’s harder to make a good swing.
“Today I went to the range and started to hit the ball a lot better. I got a bit more confident out there at the finish of the round, and I am looking forward to tomorrow to bring that back on the course. If I play like today, I am quite sure that I have a very good chance of winning for a third time.”
Canada’s Natasha Stasiuk, the overnight leader, slipped six shots behind Sräga, leaving the women’s Championship delicately poised rather than neatly settled.
A Cut, A First, And A Bigger Stage For Adaptive Golf
This year’s G4D Open has already broken new ground, with a cut introduced for the first time in the Championship. The leading 20 men and ties, plus the top ten women and ties, progressed to the final round.
Staged in partnership between the DP World Tour and The R&A, and supported by EDGA, the Championship is being held at Celtic Manor Resort for the first time. The venue, with its tournament pedigree and Roman Road Course examination paper, has provided an ideal platform for the world’s best golfers with disabilities.
Eighty men and women, amateur and professional, are competing across the overall men’s and women’s Championships, with trophies also awarded across nine sport classes covering Standing, Intellectual, Visual and Sitting impairment groups.
For spectators, attendance and parking are free, which is a rather sensible arrangement if the idea is to get more people watching elite adaptive golf at close quarters.
Final-Round Nerves Await
The final 18 holes now carry all the ingredients of a proper Championship finish.
Nlareb A Amang has the lead. Seungmin Lee has momentum. Wood, Popert, Lawlor and others still have enough golf left to cause bother. In the women’s event, Sräga has the advantage, while Van Houten has the experience and the scent of a hat-trick.
The G4D Open has done more than produce strong scoring in Wales. It has shown, again, that golf at this level is not defined by impairment but by execution, judgement, nerve and that universal sporting nuisance known as the four-foot putt.
Celtic Manor now gets one more day to test them all. And by the look of this leaderboard, it intends to enjoy itself.
