Visually impaired golfer Glenn ‘Juicy’ Niciejewski scores fourth place in B1 category at Blind Golf Korea Open

A South West visually impaired golfer has returned home after achieving an impressive result at an international tournament. Glenn ‘Juicy’ Niciejewski took out fourth place at the ISPS Handa Blind Golf Korea Open late last month, being the only player from outside South Korea or Japan to compete. It was his first international tournament in two years, and said he was happy with the result. It was his first outside of Australia alongside partner and part-time caddy Tara Fraser. “She was nervous as much as I was and we just worked well together,” Niciejewski said. “We played some bad shots and then we were just talking and saying, ‘don’t worry about that one, just get to the next one’.” Playing at the Ladena Golf Course, a two and a half hour drive south of Seoul, Niciejewski described the venue as being a more technologically advanced than those he has played on in Australia. “Because it was so hot over there - it was their summer, so it was 33C and 90 per cent humidity - when we were 50 to 100m away from the green, the sprinklers on the green are going so it’s keeping the greens wet,” he said. “Then when you actually stand and put foot pressure on the green, the sprinklers turn off. They also had industrial fans on every green and every tee box.” Being the only competitors with a lengthy journey to the tournament, there were a few language barriers the South West pair had to overcome during their time in South Korea. Niciejewski kept to his trademark loud colour scheme for the Open, with his outfit consisting of bright green and canary yellow. “(The other competitors) were all in just normal whites and blacks,” he said. “They pushed us to the front of the photo and then Tara saw the photo and said, ‘we stand out’.” Niciejewski is playing the WA Blind and Inclusive Championship at Wembley Golf Course, as well as the NLK Cabinets Western Australia Blind Golf Open at Whaleback Golf Course. He thanked Ms Fraser for travelling with him for the South Korean trip.