Sweden’s Joakim Bjorkman is one of two invites for the EDGA Dubai Finale which will be played over 36 holes during the DP World Tour Championship at Dubai’s Jumeirah Golf Estates, next month. Picture by GETTY IMAGES / EUROPEAN TOUR

SWEDE Joakim Bjorkman and American Chad Pfeifer are the final two EDGA golfers confirmed for the EDGA Dubai Finale, the new 36-hole tournament for Golfers with Disability.

It will run alongside the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai at Jumeirah Golf Estates, in November.

The EDGA Dubai Finale will be staged on November 22 and 23 – at one of the European Tour’s biggest events of the year – with six players from the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) qualifying, plus the two wildcard invitations accepted by Bjorkman and Pfeifer.

Bjorkman, a two-time winner of the European Team Championship for Sweden, suffers from achondroplasia – a form of short-limbed dwarfism – and will compete for the first time at the inaugural EDGA Dubai Finale.

Bjorkman said: “I’m delighted to have the opportunity to tee it up alongside some of the best golfers in the world at the EDGA Dubai Finale in November.

“The European Tour and EDGA lead the way when it comes to promoting the game for golfers with a disability and providing us with playing opportunities.

“It has been incredible to see over the past year with events like the EDGA Scottish Open and I am thrilled to be part of the inaugural event in Dubai,” Bjorkman added.

Pfeifer, the current World No. 10, is a former US Army Airborne Infantry veteran and three-time National Amputee Champion in the United States.

Chad Pfeifer is a US Army veteran and will travel from the USA as the second invite for the EDGA Dubia Finale. Picture by GETTY IMAGES / EUROPEAN TOUR

“The EDGA Dubai Finale is going to be an exceptional event and I can’t wait for the challenge,” said Pfeifer.

“It is a great field stacked with so many talented golfers and I have no doubt the golf course will be a fantastic test for us all.”

The eight-man field will also feature EDGA Scottish Open champion Brendan Lawlor, Englishmen George Groves and Mike Browne, Frenchman Charles-Henri Quélin, American Chris Biggins and Australian Geoff Nicholas.

DP World Tour Championship tournament director David Garland said: “We are thrilled to have the EDGA Dubai Finale running concurrently with the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.

“We cannot wait to see these eight incredible golfers put their skills to the ultimate test at Jumeirah Golf Estates next month.

“The European Tour is excited to continue our work alongside EDGA to offer golfers with disability the opportunity to play competitive tournaments at our highest profile events and to ultimately promote the inclusive nature of our game to our global audience.”

EDGA president Tony Bennett said: “The eight players who will compete are not only representing golf as an inclusive sport but stand on the shoulders of thousands of golfers who have impairments, some of whom, due to the severity or nature of their impairment, could never dream of taking on such a golf course under tournament conditions.

“With gross, nett and Stableford rankings available on the official WR4GD, golf is recognising that all competitors can reach the higher levels in their respective rankings,” added Tony who is also the International Golf Federation’s head of disability and inclusion.

“The players on show will represent EDGA, and the growing body of players who compete in golf despite their impairment, exceptionally well, not only on the golf course, but in the way that they interact with the fans, the press and those who wish to try golf as a viable sporting option.

“Our thanks go to the European Tour, DP World and RSM for making this opportunity possible to showcase the abilities of the players who have worked hard to compete.”

“The EDGA Dubai Finale field is shaping up nicely and we are thrilled to be championing Golfers with Determination at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship,” said Daniel Van Otterdijk, senior vice-president of DP World Group Communications.

“The initiative ties in nicely with the Year of Tolerance and builds on our 10-year partnership with the European Tour, that continues to attract thousands of young people from the UAE to golf each year.”

Scoring for both tournaments will feature on the European Tour’s website and app for fans to follow, while highlights of both contests will form part of the world feed broadcast.

Entry List – 2019 EDGA Dubai Finale
Category One – Leading six available players from the World Rankings for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD) week 36.
George Groves – England
Mike Browne – England
Brendan Lawlor – Ireland
Charles-Henri Quélin – France
Chris Biggins – USA
Geoff Nicholas – Australia
Category 2 – Tournament Invites
Joakim Bjorkman – Sweden
Chad Pfeifer – USA

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Geoff Nicholas the 1990 British Amputee Open Champion who came through a play-off at Fairhaven to qualify for The Senior Open at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s this week.
Picture by GETTY IMAGES

AMPUTEE golfer Geoff Nicholas will make his Senior Open debut at Royal Lytham & St Annes today after earning his place in Monday Qualifying.

The Australian – who participated in the European Tour’s ground-breaking EDGA Scottish Open for Golfers with Disability earlier this month – was one of more than 500 golfers who competed at four qualifying sites for the 49 remaining places in The Senior Open field, securing his spot after a play-off at Fairhaven Golf Club.

Nicholas was born with deformities in both his legs – a side-effect of the drug named Thalidomide which was used to combat the effects of morning sickness in expectant mothers. At the age of 11 his right leg was amputated, but that did not stop him from playing golf – which he took up after seeing it on television.

He carded a level par round of 73 at Fairhaven and then earned his place at Royal Lytham & St Annes after a five-man play-off with a birdie on the fourth extra hole.

“In regulation I think I sunk a 25-footer for birdie which got me into the play-off,” Nicholas said. “There were two spots and two alternate places. We all birdied the first and parred the second, one guy dropped out on the third.

“On the 18^th, one guy knocked it on for two and I hit an eight iron to about 15 feet with my third shot – I bent in the putt and we both went through.

“To qualify for The Senior Open, a Senior Major Championship, is terrific. It’s been one of my dreams; and to get through Qualifying was brilliant. It’s just great to be here.

“I like to feel as though I’m inspiring people – and there’s a lot of people out there. Golf is such a great game in which to do that.

“There’s so many avenues to succeed in this sport – there’s no other sport like it.”

Currently ranked No. 8 on the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD), the 58-year-old admitted he had enjoyed the EDGA Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club to the east of Edinburgh, which took place alongside the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, a Rolex Series event on the European Tour.

Nicholas said: “I came over to the UK 10 days ago to play in the EDGA Scottish Open, which was great, and I thought, ‘well, I’m over here, I might as well try and qualify for The Senior Open’ and here I am.”

In 1990 he won the inaugural British Amputee Open and won the U.S. Amputee Open later that year.

Nicholas would dominate the amputee golf scene in the 1990s – winning both championships every year until 2002.

He earned his card on the PGA Tour of Australasia in 1992, which he held for a number of years, and also teed it up in the same event as Tiger Woods in the 1996 Australian Open.

“That was really special,” said Nicholas. “I actually beat him in the first round – so I’ve always got that to remember. This week is something else, it’s great to be around so many legends of the game.

“A lot of people don’t know what to expect from me – a lot of them don’t realise because when you wear long trousers and walk reasonably well, they don’t know.

After The Senior Open, Nicholas will be hoping to maintain his position in the top eight of the WR4GD and earn a spot at the EDGA Dubai Finale at the end of the season, the second disability championship scheduled alongside Rolex Series events on the 2019 Race to Dubai.

The EDGA Dubai Finale will take place alongside the European Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai at Jumeirah Golf Estates in November.

For live scores from The Senior Open click here.

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