Every major championship field carries its share of players chasing the Claret Jug and a smaller group whose stories will never trouble the leaderboard but will linger far longer in the memory. Lev Grinberg belongs firmly in the second category this week at Royal Birkdale.
According to a fresh feature from Golf Channel published on Wednesday, the 18-year-old will become the first Ukrainian-born player to compete in an Open Championship when he tees off in Thursday’s opening round, doing so as the youngest man in the 156-strong field. It is a landmark that sits alongside the more familiar storylines of this week’s stacked Open field, but for supporters who like an underdog to follow through four days at a major, Grinberg’s route to Birkdale is one of the more remarkable in the draw.
Yet, looking beyond the history-book footnote, Grinberg’s story is really about identity, displacement and opportunity finding a teenager who refused to let any of it slow him down.
A Ukrainian Golfer Who Plays Under A French Flag
Grinberg was born in Kyiv and started playing golf at five years old, but his family left for Belgium when he was 11 as the game outgrew what was available at home. He has since moved again, this time to France, where he trains at the academy attached to Le Golf National outside Paris. His grandfather still lives in Ukraine, a country that, according to Golf Channel, has just two operational golf courses remaining after a third was destroyed during the ongoing war with Russia.
“I was searching for opportunities to train and get better,” Grinberg told Today’s Golfer, as relayed by Golf Channel. “It’s like an Olympic training center, very, very golf focused, and they were very kind to let me in … I had to learn the language (Grinberg now speaks four). It was a long, long process, but it was smooth, and I feel like the support that I’m getting from them is amazing.” He now competes under the French flag in international events, a switch that reflects where his career has actually been built rather than where it began.
The Form That Earned Him A Spot At Birkdale
Grinberg’s route to the Open ran through the Open Amateur Series, which rewards the player who accumulates the most World Amateur Golf Ranking points across the St Andrews Links Trophy, the Amateur Championship and the European Amateur Championship. He topped that standings table, according to Golf Monthly, on the back of a seven-shot win in the St Andrews Links Trophy over the Old Course — the biggest winning margin at the event since 2012 — and a tie for sixth at the European Amateur.
“It feels great to have my first big win here,” Grinberg said at St Andrews, as reported by The Scotsman. “It’s one of the best and most historic courses in the world.” That victory, built on rounds of 66, 66 and 67 before a closing 70, has lifted him to No. 40 in the world amateur rankings and made Thursday’s tee time at Birkdale possible.
What Comes Next For Grinberg
Grinberg’s amateur career is not slowing down after this week. Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard reports that he will begin attending the University of Arkansas as a collegiate freshman next month, trading the French national academy system for US college golf. It follows a similar path to the unlikely qualifiers who fought through Open final qualifying to reach Birkdale, though few arrive with ambitions as bold as the ones Grinberg laid out to The Scotsman after his St Andrews win: to become the world’s No. 1 amateur and eventually play a Ryder Cup for Europe.
None of that changes what happens when the amateur world number 40 walks to the first tee on Thursday, in the middle of an Open eve already shaped by late withdrawals and a firm, fast Birkdale test. But it does explain why Grinberg’s name is one worth knowing before the leaderboard fills up with more familiar ones. Golf’s history at Royal Birkdale is about to gain an unusual new footnote, and Lev Grinberg intends to make sure it is not his last visit to a major stage.
