Willis takes on world's best at G4D Open

Willis, from Ringland, Newport, had originally taken up the sport at the age of 35, having retired from a semi-professional football career which included a stint at Newport County AFC during their spell playing over the border in Moreton-in-Marsh.

Willis' golf handicap was 11 before his accident. Remarkably, he now plays off six.

"I am really proud of that," he says with a smile.

"Golf has meant everything to me. I said if I ever got injured and I couldn't play sport, I wouldn't really want to be here.

"Golf means I have been able to compete, playing sport with friends and keeping fit to a degree. It's great for my wellbeing as well."

Preparation 'not ideal' for Baines

Dylan Baines has one victory to his name on golf's EDGA Tour [Getty Images]

Willis is one of many in the field at Celtic Manor this week with a remarkable back story.

The only other Welsh competitor, Dylan Baines, was paralysed from the neck down after he was in a van involved in a road accident near Caerphilly when he was aged 22 in 2017.

Baines was told he would not walk again but, six weeks after the accident, he was suddenly able to move the big toe on his right foot.

Gradually, movement returned down the right side of his body and within a couple of years, he was playing golf.

"I am still affected on my left side," Baines says.

"My left hand, tricep, hamstring, my left foot, none of that works. Luckily the right side does."

Baines, who has a handicap of nine, plays with a velcro strap around his left hand to ensure it remains tight to the club.

He was not expecting to qualify for this year's G4D Open, hence he had no concerns about spending six days on a stag do in Nashville last week.

"It was not ideal preparation," he says.

"I was quite low down the reserve list. I came home and the next morning I had the email to say I had got in. I have been on the range and playing every day since."

England's Lucy Leatham is making her G4D Open debut this week, only three years after a road accident which led to her right arm being amputated and left her with a brain injury.

"I think I had a one per cent chance [of suriving] for two or three weeks, then I was in a coma for six weeks," says Leatham.

The 37-year-old has long been involved in golf, having originally set out to become a PGA professional and then had a spell as a club fitter.

Leatham hails from Devon, but returns to Celtic Manor having previously worked at the Newport venue's Twenty Ten course, which was built for the Ryder Cup.

"I have lost my right arm so I have to do everything with my left," she says. "I just keep thinking I'll get better the more I play."

The G4D Open will be played on Celtic Manor's Roman Road course [EDGA]

'An opportunity to show what golfers with a disability can do'

The G4D Open is in Wales for the first time – and will be played at Celtic Manor for two more years - after the first three editions of the tournament took place at Woburn.

It will take place on the Roman Road course, with 80 golfers – some amateur, some professional - from 25 different countries involved in what is disability golf's equivalent of a major.

There are nine different sports classes for various impairment groups, with players competing to win their respective classes.

There will also be overall men's and women's winners of the championship, which is contested over three days and 54 holes of gross stroke play.

Ireland's Brendan Lawlor and Daphne van Houten, from the Netherlands, will aim to defend their titles this week, with England's world number one Kipp Popert among the others expected to challenge.

The G4D Open is run by the R&A and DP World Tour and supported by EDGA, which was formerly known as the European Disabled Golf Association.

"We see this as the pinnacle of golf for the disabled," says the R&A's Kevin Barker.

"We want golf to be truly reflective of society. Whether it's your sex, your gender, ethnicity, whether you are able-bodied or disabled, we want people to think golf is a game for them.

"This is a real showpiece opportunity for us to show what golfers with a disability can do."