Defending champion Brendan Lawlor and world number one Kipp Popert will again battle it out for the G4D Open in Friday’s final round.

Irishman Lawlor hit a second successive 71 to move to two under and swap places with England’s Popert, the top-ranked disability golfer.

Popert, who led overnight on four under, carded a 75 on a damp day at Woburn to fall one shot behind Lawlor.

Despite shooting a three-over-par round, the 25-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, said: “I’m excited because I know I’m playing well.

“I didn’t get frustrated, I trusted myself. I’ll just stick to my gameplan and we’ll have a nice battle.”

Lawlor, who has a rare condition called Ellis-van Creveld syndrome that is characterised by a short stature and short limbs, beat Popert by two shots to win last year’s inaugural title.

He said: “If Kipp goes out and shoots six under there’s nothing I can do.

“But I want to go out and shoot an under-par round and see where it leaves me. It’s going to be exciting.”

Canadian Chris Willis is in third on four over, while 18-year-old Englishman Thomas Blizzard, who sat an A-level exam on Tuesday, is a shot further back.

Dutchwoman Daphne van Houten is the leading women’s player in a share of 24th place.

The championship is held in partnership between the DP World Tour and the R&A and supported by EDGA – formally the European Disabled Golf Association. It features 80 men and women, aged 15-68, playing in nine sport classes across multiple impairment groups.

An overall champion will be crowned, as well as an opposite sex winner, with a gross prize in each of the sport classes which cover various categories in standing, intellectual, visual and sitting.