Nearly killed in a car crash, he's now an Aussie champ

Lachlan Wood was on his way to become a champion golfer when he suffered critical injuries in a horror car crash at 16.

From the passenger seat, the crash broke 12 bones – several of which were shattered – and his left leg would eventually heal some 4cm shorter than his right.

But after dozens of operations and a decade-long break from the sport, Wood on Saturday afternoon became the first Australian to win the Australian All-Abilities Open.

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He won by a single shot over Irishman Brendan Lawlor and Cameron Pollard.

All three players began the last round at The Australian tied, and remained separated by only a handful of strokes with seven holes to play.

Wood, 32, made a bogey from a plugged lie on the 14th – the ball was embedded below the surface of a bunker – before two late birdies on 16 and 18 clinched it for him.

"It was red hot … it was close the whole way and then one by one I slowly got some breathing room and got just enough on the back nine," he said.

"Got an unlucky plug, but then they three-putted and from there it was just hang on."

It's been an incredible 12-month period for Wood. This time last year, he had no involvement in the all-abilities golf scene, but has rocketed to the top of the Australian all-abilities rankings, and is No.15 in the world. 

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"I was no one, I had no world ranking … I'd only just heard about how to get into the system," he said.

"I'd known about it and watched it for years, but I never knew how to get into the system."

Wood hopes to play on the European PGA's G4D Tour (Golf for the Disabled) in 2024, but said the financial limitations of travel to and from Europe will put a big dampener on those aspirations.

"Hopefully I can scrape into some events – obviously the G4D Open I'd love to get to, but obviously financial difficulties make it tricky," he said.

"It's such an expensive event and so far away, but yeah, chasing world ranking points, you've got to go overseas. It is financially expensive."