Opening Golf to the World
The G4D Open
The G4D Open: Meet Lucy Leatham and Frederik Brokfelt-Christiansen
12 May 26
6 mins
When The G4D Open staged its inaugural edition in 2023, competing wasn’t a consideration for Lucy Leatham but later that year she was involved in a life-changing car accident and is now on the cusp of making her Championship debut.
Such were the severity of her injuries, Leatham was given a one per cent chance of survival at the scene and placed into a medically induced coma. Despite surgeons saving her life, following 13 hours on the operating table, she required a right arm amputation above the elbow aged 34. Among other complications because of the accident, Leatham still suffers from a brain injury, affecting memory loss and fatigue.Connections to Celtic Manor
Her involvement at the Celtic Manor Resort – the first-ever staging of the Championship in Wales – this year is made the more personally meaningful as she worked for a time at the Newport venue. Having initially dreamt of becoming a PGA Professional, Leatham became a trained club custom-fitter for a leading manufacturer, while she also ran the pro shop at Libbaton Golf Club, her home club in Devon. “Golf is everything to me now,” she said. “I didn't know about The G4D Open last year, but when I was told about it I wanted to enter it straight away. I want to enter everything now, because that was what I used to be like as a golfer. “I'm really excited to be at Celtic Manor because I used to work there and lived on site so it's great to be back there again.” A golfer since her late teenage years, the impact of the surgery was devastating for Leatham as it brought her haulage business to a premature end.Renewed passion for golf
But the sport has long played a part in her life and in recent times has become a renewed passion through G4D events. In the past two weeks alone, the 37-year-old, based near Exeter, has played events at St Andrews and the London Golf Club and is now looking forward to joining many of the sport’s most talented golfers with disabilities.
Lucy Leatham will take part in her first G4D Open at Celtic Manor Resort.
“I just love meeting all these people who've got used to be a normal person and then something bad has happened to them, but I just love people like that,” added Leatham, who will compete in Sport Class Standing 2. “Things happen in life and I just love powering through.
“Everyone has that best friend who moans about everything, and I didn't want that to be me. I'm just one of the people that goes out and gets things that people will be like, ‘oh, you can't do that’. I'll just go out and try it.
“I enjoy the competitive environment, but when I finish I hit the wall through tiredness.”
The 19-year-old was diagnosed with scoliosis of the spine in 2023. Through the physical and mental uncertainty he has faced in recent years, golf has offered a priceless outlet for expression and also a platform on which to excel.
“Everyone has that best friend who moans about everything, and I didn't want that to be me. I'm just one of the people that goes out and gets things that people will be like, ‘oh, you can't do that’. I'll just go out and try it.
“I enjoy the competitive environment, but when I finish I hit the wall through tiredness.”
Nine sport classes
While it is perhaps the Twenty Ten Course that is perhaps the more internationally known, having staged the Ryder Cup in 2010, it will be the Roman Road Course that takes on staging duties for the fourth edition of The G4D Open, after three previously at Woburn. The G4D Open features nine sport classes across the recognised impairment groups, with 80 men and women players of both amateur and professional status set to compete. Contested over three days and across 54 holes of gross stroke play, there are overall men’s and women’s winners and a gross prize in each of the sport classes which cover Standing, Intellectual, Visual and Sitting. Ireland’s Brendan Lawlor and Daphne van Houten from the Netherlands are the respective defending men’s and women’s champions.Denmark’s Brokfelt-Christiansen out to shine
From a true golfing family in Denmark, Frederik Brokfelt-Christiansen has an intense emotional bond with the game. “I got my first set of golf clubs when I was two years old, but I really started when I was nine, when I got my first membership,” he explains. Certainly, over the next ten years the sport has been front and centre of this engaging young man’s mind.The 19-year-old was diagnosed with scoliosis of the spine in 2023. Through the physical and mental uncertainty he has faced in recent years, golf has offered a priceless outlet for expression and also a platform on which to excel.
Celtic Manor's Roman Road course will test competitors at The G4D Open.
Frederik says he must be careful not to twist his spine too much when playing, and while fatigue can be encountered after a lot of movement he remains a highly positive player who enjoys pushing himself physically, while through the hours of hard work and a positive mindset he has reached a highly impressive +1.7 Handicap Index.
He admitted last year to playing a lot, 26 tournaments in 32 weeks may have been pushing it, but he is playing because he loves the game, not because he has to.
“Golf is really important in my life, and I feel fortunate in this. I really love to play, even if this means simply setting yourself a challenge when playing on your own,” Frederik adds.
G4D development
Mølleåens Golf Klub is where you will frequently find him, this picturesque and welcoming club is located in a beautiful natural area between Farum and Slangerup in North Zealand, 30km north of Copenhagen. His father, Anders, often caddies for Frederik when he can for the bigger tournaments, and they share a close team ethic, Dad certainly appears to be the 15th club in Frederik’s bag. After his diagnosis Frederik discovered the G4D tournaments run by EDGA; he had his assessment to be eligible for his WR4GD pass (World Ranking for Golfers with Disability), and from there he has forged ahead. Rich in form in 2025, Frederik burst into the top-30 of the World Ranking (Gross) after strong finishes in his early EDGA tournaments and climbed into the top-ten after a spectacular win in the EGA European Individual Championship at Bokskogens Golfklubb in Sweden in August. Here, the Dane secured a 'wire-to-wire' win, carding the lowest round of the tournament on Thursday with a 1-under-par 70 to take the lead, and then following up with rounds of 71 and 74 for a two-stroke victory over the field. Subsequent wins in the Madrid Open, and in his own national championship for a third time, underline that he is not too far from the finished article as a player.
Frederik Brokfelt-Christiansen is ready for The G4D at Celtic Manor Resort.
Woburn debut last year
The skill factor was much in evidence when making his debut as an 18-year-old in The G4D Open 2025 at Woburn. Rather than being fazed, Frederik demonstrated his dry sense of humour (saying he found the holes on the green were “too small” after his putting in the first round). After that first round he also talked about playing well and not thinking about the score ahead, staying in the present. “Just have fun, performance first, it’s up to the gods,” he explained. The philosophical Frederik would actually scare the leaders around the Duchess Course at Woburn, shooting rounds of 74, 74 and 77 to finish fifth in the Championship, and winning his Sport Class Standing 2. Frederik has qualified once again for this week in Wales. Asked about any nerves for his debut round at Woburn last year, he said then, “A little bit but taking a deep breath, and yes, it's just another day.” Sharing many a smile on the course, Frederik enjoys the friendships of golf but concedes the competition side is key, and he has learned that not everything in this arena always goes to plan. When Frederik qualified to play in the 2025 RSM European Play-offs in September, with its ‘matchplay’ format, he was full of confidence for another potential victory, this time at North Hants Golf Club near London.In his first-round match, Frederik then had to watch in wonder as Scotland veteran Gordon Mclay, 63, a lower-leg amputee, played perhaps the best golf of the entire week. Gordon birdied the 17th and then eagled the par-4 18th by holing a stunning second shot from the light rough, winning the match with Frederik, played out in intense drama but always great spirit.
Initially disappointed at the fates, Frederik’s response will live long in his memory as the next day he would score a stunning gross 64 in the following team competition which was ratified as a new North Hants GC course record from the silver tees.
Spectators are encouraged to attend at Celtic Manor for The G4D Open, with attendance and car parking free of charge.