My9Iron · Elite Golf & Big Break
Kipp Popert Bio
The world No. 1 golfer with a disability, four-time U.S. Adaptive Open champion and Big Break x Good Good contestant pursuing golf’s biggest stages.
Quick answer: Kipp Popert is an elite English golfer and the world’s top-ranked golfer with a disability who was selected for the filmed but unaired Big Break x Good Good season. He won four consecutive U.S. Adaptive Open men’s titles from 2023 through 2026, became the first golfer with a disability to qualify for The Amateur Championship and made his DP World Tour debut in 2026.
Jump to: Quick Facts · Big Break · Early Life · Roots Documentary · Golf Career · U.S. Adaptive Open · Shorts · Equipment · FAQ
Kipp Popert at a Glance
Kipp Popert and the Canceled Big Break Season
Popert was selected as one of 12 golfers for Big Break x Good Good, filmed at Horseshoe Bay Resort in Texas. His four consecutive U.S. Adaptive Open titles, repeated G4D victories and experience in elite able-bodied competition gave him one of the strongest championship records in the field.
Golf Channel canceled the season on August 27, 2026, before any episodes aired, after the competition’s intended PGA Tour exemption could no longer be fulfilled. Popert’s selection remains part of his career history, but there is no televised result or elimination order to report. See My9Iron’s cancellation and cast page or Golf Channel’s announcement.
Born premature and introduced to golf by his father
Popert was born ten weeks prematurely and spent approximately six and a half weeks in special neonatal care. He was later diagnosed with spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy that affects muscular movement in his lower body.
Golf entered his life at approximately age three. His father introduced him to films of Bobby Jones, and once Kipp could stand, his parents gave him plastic clubs. His family quickly noticed that he could strike a ball naturally and would practice long after everyone else had stopped.
The game initially mattered because of the time it gave him with his father. Popert later explained that four uninterrupted hours together on a weekend—not merely golf itself—was why he fell in love with it. Golf also offered something team sports sometimes denied him: a score determined the outcome, not someone else’s decision about whether his body allowed him to belong.
“You get bitter or you get better”
The DP World Tour’s Roots documentary follows Popert back through his childhood, family, school years, surgeries and development at Wildernesse Golf Club. It supplies rare early footage and first-person context for the determination behind his competitive record.
When Popert could not participate in a school charity walk, he performed 1,000 golf keepy-uppies instead so he could still raise money. At Wildernesse, he recalled arriving around 6 a.m., staying until the evening and placing his feet in an ice bucket during lunch so he could return to practice.
Golf gave Kipp Popert a reason to keep going
Popert underwent more than ten extensive operations involving his legs and feet during his development. Some procedures removed him from normal activity for three to six months. At 16, he entered major reconstructive surgery on his right foot knowing the outcome was uncertain, but accepted the risk because it might help him move closer to the golfer he believed he could become.
His father built a chipping green at home so rehabilitation would not completely separate him from golf. When swelling became excessive, Popert would go inside, elevate his foot, rest and then return to practice. At one stage, he steadied himself with a crutch and chipped one-handed.
His family’s guiding phrase was “Press on”: deal with the next task, then move to the one after it. Popert applied that approach to rehabilitation, practice and competition. Rather than describing cerebral palsy as a disadvantage, he views it as one of the challenges every person must learn to carry.
Education and golf development
Popert graduated from the University of Birmingham’s Applied Golf Management Studies program. The course combined business education with golf-industry and performance development, giving him access to coaching and a foundation in both the technical and commercial sides of the game.
His official DP World Tour profile lists Wildernesse Golf Club in Kent as his club attachment. The club became the center of his development, and his name eventually joined the honors boards he had studied as a young member.
Rise through EDGA and the G4D Tour
Popert’s breakthrough international season came in 2021. He closed the EDGA Hero Open at Fairmont St Andrews with a bogey-free 66, won the tournament and rose to No. 1 in the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability.
When the G4D Tour began in 2022, Popert won its inaugural event at the Betfred British Masters and collected four victories across the first six tournaments. He also recorded the first hole-in-one in G4D Tour history at Real Club Valderrama.
By the end of 2025, the DP World Tour credited him with 16 victories across individual and team competition on the G4D Tour. That official total combines both formats rather than representing 16 individual titles.
His 2025 season included another recovery from foot surgery. After returning, he won the Amgen Irish Open event, captured the G4D Tour competition connected with the BMW PGA Championship for a fourth consecutive year and won the season-ending Gross competition at Club de Golf Alcanada by seven strokes.
Historic performances in able-bodied golf
In 2022, Popert became the first golfer with a disability to qualify for The Amateur Championship. He pursued the qualifier even though it meant declining his first invitation to represent England in the European Team Disability Championship.
At the 2026 English Amateur, he advanced from a 288-player field through stroke-play qualifying and multiple match-play rounds before reaching the semifinals. He finished tied for third after nine competitive rounds across seven days.
Popert made his DP World Tour debut at the 2026 Austrian Alpine Open. After opening with a 75, he responded with a one-under 69. His four-over total missed the cut, but the second round supplied direct evidence that he could break par inside an elite able-bodied tour field.
Popert describes his approach play and short irons as necessities rather than optional strengths. He does not possess the same distance as many tour players, so he has built an elite scoring game from approximately 150 yards and closer and believes that strength is expanding toward 175 yards.
Four consecutive U.S. Adaptive Open championships
Popert has built the defining championship run of his career at the U.S. Adaptive Open. After Simon Lee won the inaugural men’s overall championship in 2022, Popert captured each of the next four titles.
At Woodmont Country Club in 2026, Popert entered the final round as the three-time defending champion and closed with a nine-under 63. His 18-under total finished six strokes ahead of 2022 champion Simon Lee and made him the first male player to win the same USGA championship in four consecutive years.
Two Championship Moments
These vertical clips document two separate four-year winning streaks: Popert’s USGA history at the U.S. Adaptive Open and his dominance at Wentworth in the G4D competition connected with the BMW PGA Championship.
Fourth Straight U.S. Adaptive Open
Popert holes the winning putt and reflects on becoming the first player to win four consecutive U.S. Adaptive Open titles. Published July 8, 2026.
Fourth Straight Win at Wentworth
Popert completes a dominant victory in the G4D Tour event connected with the BMW PGA Championship. Published September 9, 2025.
Kipp Popert’s work for disability golf
Popert has used his world ranking and tournament record to advocate for regular, sustainable elite competition for golfers with disabilities. Following the suspension of the regular G4D Tour schedule in 2026, he argued that young players need to see a realistic future and that the best golfers must have opportunities to compete regularly.
In May 2026, the Kipp Popert World Invitational brought leading disabled golfers to London Golf Club. Funding allowed all 18 competitors to receive £3,000, while the connected charity effort raised £145,000.
Golf Channel’s Big Break feature shows how personally Popert views that responsibility. After encouraging children in places including Hong Kong and Kansas to keep working toward golf, he does not intend to abandon them when the competitive structure becomes uncertain. His five-year vision is to earn a DP World Tour card or win on another able-bodied tour, then use that platform to make disability golf larger and more sustainable.
Kipp Popert’s clubs and equipment
A complete, dated model-by-model specification for Popert’s current bag was not established during My9Iron’s August 2026 research. Tournament footage may show individual clubs, but isolated visual evidence is not enough to identify his driver, woods, irons, wedges, putter, shafts and ball as one confirmed setup.
My9Iron will expand this section if player confirmation, manufacturer documentation or clear dated footage establishes a reliable bag. Nothing seen in the Big Break feature is being presented as Popert’s confirmed competition setup.
What makes Kipp Popert dangerous on Big Break?
Popert enters Big Break as a proven winner rather than an inspirational long shot. He has dominated a USGA championship, won repeatedly at Wentworth, qualified for one of amateur golf’s oldest championships and broken par during a DP World Tour event.
The short-challenge format should emphasize several of his strongest traits: precise approach play, a short game sharpened out of necessity and a desire to move toward pressure. Popert believes golf is democratic because the lowest score wins regardless of the assumptions surrounding the player.