{"id":20200,"date":"2025-06-27T22:26:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T22:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/20200\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T22:26:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T22:26:14","slug":"i-cried-one-armed-golfer-on-what-world-title-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/20200\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I cried’ – One-armed golfer on what world title means"},"content":{"rendered":"

“They call me the one-armed Jon Rahm”.<\/p>\n

It is with a broad smile and laugh that Mark Marshall embraces the nickname which follows the Nottinghamshire golfer around courses, where he proudly says he leaves people “gobsmacked”.<\/p>\n

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He is a right-handed golfer without a right-hand, after it and much of his forearm was severed in a wood processing machine at work more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Marshall is also now the one-armed golf world champion – a title that gives that comparison to Spain’s former world number one Rahm even more authority than simply a play on words.<\/p>\n

“It means a hell of a lot, I cried and there were a lot of different emotions,” said Marshall, remembering the moment he clinched the title at Cleveland Golf Club in England’s North East.<\/p>\n

The emotions felt were not just about the sporting achievement, or even what he had to overcome following his injury to get there.<\/p>\n

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It was only 12 months earlier that Emily Rose, his partner of 13 years and mother of his three-year-old daughter Elle, died.<\/p>\n

Wayne Albans is Marshall’s caddy, but is quick to add that he is most “proud to call him best mate”.<\/p>\n

He said: “I’ve known Mark for six years, I didn’t know him when he had two arms, but for what he has overcome, I don’t know how he has done it.<\/p>\n

“The stuff he has gone through in his life, his partner passing away was very hard for Mark and now he is bringing up his daughter.<\/p>\n

“I take my hat off to him or what he has done. He should be so proud.”<\/p>\n

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Marshall says having “family, friends and good people around” has helped him cope in the difficult times.<\/p>\n

“I have a positive mindset and I don’t think anything can stop me, really,” he told BBC East Midlands Today.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Mark<\/p>\n

Mark Marshall posed with the one-armed World Championship trophy while playing a few holes at his local golf course it Retford [BBC Sport]<\/p>\n

Golf, for Marshall, has been a constant in his life.<\/p>\n

He grew up in Retford, in the north east of the county, and first took up the game there.<\/p>\n

When he still had both hands, he was on the club’s ‘scratch’ team – representing the best who played at course.<\/p>\n

But with one hand, he is now going to play for Europe in the Fightmaster Cup, the one-armed equivalent of the Ryder Cup, later this year.<\/p>\n

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Getting his game to such a level, and being able to smash tee shots 270 yards with his weaker, but fully functional, left arm has taken years of work and even pain.<\/p>\n

“It’s lots of practice, dedication and frustration,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I had a few years building my strength up. I was hurting my shoulder quite a bit trying to hit the ball harder. But I’d say after about three years I’ve had no injuries because I just got really strong from all the practice.<\/p>\n

“And it has been worth it in the end, because it’s just nice to hit a good ball.”<\/p>\n

On his local fairways, Marshall is very much the golfer to watch – and not just because he is playing with a disability.<\/p>\n

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Even when he is a focus of attention among his fellow golfers for being a one-armed player, he relishes it because he knows he can change perceptions.<\/p>\n

“If I play elsewhere people are all gobsmacked,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They all watch me and that makes me strive more to hit a good shot off the first tee because they are all crowded around.<\/p>\n

“I just smash the ball and everyone is just like ‘what?’. It’s good fun, to be fair.”<\/p>\n

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