The renowned US Masters will be staged at Augusta next week but it isn’t the only international golf tournament taking place in Georgia in April.

From April 13-15 the ISPS Handa 2026 US Blind Golf Championships will be held at Green Island Country Club in Columbus – and Norfolk has a representative.

Sheringham Golf Club member Paul Innocent will tee up in the B2 category for partially-sighted players.

It will represent another landmark for Innocent, who last July won the B2 gross title at the ISPS British Blind Open at Cardrona in Scotland.

Paul’s is an inspiring story and follows on from when he was diagnosed in 2023 with Leber’s Heriditary Optic Neuropathy, a rare incurable eye disease.

Innocent, 43, said: “It has left me completely blind in my right eye and I only have 30 per cent vision remaining in my left eye – expected to dissipate to 0 within the next six to 18 months.

“When I got the final diagnosis in January 2024 I felt like I’d lost my world. I had to surrender my driving licence and sell my electrical contracting business in Nottingham.

“My wife and I decided to sell everything we had and move to our favourite place, North Norfolk, in September 2024. I joined Sheringham Golf Club in October the same year.

“Everyone at the club has really helped and supported me fantastically. I couldn’t feel more welcome.”

Indeed, fellow Sheringham member Rob Linge will be on the fairways alongside Innocent at Green Island Country Club. 

Linge acts as Paul’s guide and coach and has assisted him in many ways, including with addressing the ball. 

Rob, who himself has lost an arm, is proving a major asset especially on the greens where he provides key information that allows Innocent to determine the length of his stroke as well as his start-line.  

Innocent said: “Rob has been a real help with my game the past couple of months.”

“If I’m on the green Rob will pace it out and say, ‘That’s 30 strides.’ Then I’ll know to bring my putter back seven inches, for example, depending on the course. We do a couple of hours practising on the greens, so that we get the pace.  

Innocent, who currently has a 15-handicap, will face players from across the world in America but intends to bring his A-game.

He added: “We’re really knuckling down and we’re hoping to compete at the top echelons. 

“We’re not going out there for the experience, although the experience is going to be fantastic and I’m fortunate I can still do it. But we are going to compete.”

The tournament is set to be just the start of a busy season of international competition for Innocent.  

He is scheduled to line up in Spain in May and Sweden in August, either side of trying to defend his British title at Portal Golf Club, Cheshire, in July.