Earlier this week, Lev Greenberg saw Brooks Koepka driving down the 10th fairway at Royal Birkdale and went for it. The 18-year-old amateur, who became the first Ukrainian-born player to compete in a major on Thursday, wanted to get some insight from one of the major’s prominent winners about what he will face.
“He said, ‘When you’re in trouble, just get away as fast as you can and make a ghost.’ Bogeys don’t hurt you, but doubles do,” Greenberg said Thursday after hitting one.
Grinberg grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine, and by a stroke of luck took up golf. He said he and his father were riding their bikes around the outskirts of town and one day met two guys playing golf. His father suggested they give it a try, and six-year-old Lev quickly became interested in the sport, hitting balls at the Kozinsky Golf Club, a nine-hole course 15 miles from Kyiv. Greenberg’s father, a former international badminton player, saw his son’s talent. Greenberg moved to Belgium at age 11 to have a better place to train. He later moved to France and joined the French Golf Federation at Le Golf National. He will play under the French flag at Birkdale this week but some of his family, including his grandfather, still live in Ukraine, which is in its fourth year of war with Russia following a Russian military invasion in 2022.
Greenberg said he still talks to his grandfather every day and called him on Monday after walking through Royal Birkdale for the first time to introduce him to the historical experience.
“I just explained to him how amazing everything is here,” Greenberg told Golf Channel on Wednesday. “And how I wish he was here. But I would definitely like to see him in one of my next majors.”
Ukraine does not have a rich golf history. When the country was under Soviet control, the sport was outlawed and viewed as entertainment for the Western elite. When Ukraine gained independence in 1991 and the Ukrainian Golf Federation was created in 1997, the sport finally began to take root in the country. According to the Ukrainian Golf Federation, as of 2025 there are still only 2,589 golfers in the country. Before the war, only six golf courses were built in Ukraine. Greenberg’s home course, Kozin, remains open and is part of the “Unite for Golf” initiative launched by the Ukrainian Golf Federation to help wounded Ukrainian war veterans recover physically and mentally. Although Kozin is still open, Golf Stream, a 36-hole course northwest of Kyiv, was destroyed during the Russian invasion and is now a minefield.
Against this backdrop, Greenberg’s success in golf looks even more incredible. He first competed on the DP World Tour at the age of 14 and qualified for The Open by winning The Open Amateur Series, the last two rounds of which are played on the old course at St Andrews. He will visit Arkansas in the fall, hoping to pave the way for the PGA Tour.
But before that march began, Lev Grinberg had to make history on Thursday at Royal Birkdale. The 18-year-old amateur took to the field early alongside Francesco Molinari and Tom McKibbin, knowing that the first ball he sent into the Southport air would be one of the most important in the history of the championship. Greenberg’s practice on the range before the round was exactly as he intended it to be, and he enjoyed the rush of nerves that accompanied him on the first tee shot of his long major championship career.
“When I hit the range, I hit it really well and I knew exactly what I was doing, so I was very confident and hit my first tee shot,” Greenberg said. “Obviously, going into the first tee shot, I was a little nervous and unsure. But I love the feeling. It feels so good. It’s what you come back for. It’s just natural adrenaline. Yeah, I woke up after that.”
Greenberg’s first tee shot hit a fairway bunker. He birdied and rose and dropped from 100 yards for the first par. Heeding Koepka’s advice, he made six pars in a row before a bad double bogey on the par-3 seventh sent him to the board. But he closed out the Parsis in the eighth and ninth and surrendered two. A six-foot miss on par on 11 meant he dropped to three, but Greenberg didn’t feel his score reflected the way he swung it.
“I told myself on the 14th, like: How much is plus three? – said Greenberg. “I hit so well and play so well.”
He then made an 18-foot birdie putt at 16 and made another round at the par-5 17th to get to one over, where he finished after 18 holes.
“I’m really happy with how it went. I hit the ball really well,” Greenberg said. “Of course, golf doesn’t always turn out the way you want it to, and it won’t always be perfect or even a great round. I’m really happy. I felt really good on the golf course. I actually felt less stressed than I thought I would. I’m really happy. I learned a lot today. It will definitely help me in the future. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
As of this writing, Greenberg is just five shots back of the early lead held by Daniel Brown, Sungjae Im and Collin Morikawa. If he makes another professional major round on Friday, he will have a good chance to play this weekend.
Persistent, optimistic and full of confidence, Lev Grinberg, who made history for himself and Ukraine on Thursday at Southport, sees Friday not as an opportunity to play another 36 holes at the 2026 Open, but as the start of something much bigger for himself, his family and, by extension, his home country. This is not something dictated by the harsh, sometimes cruel realities of the world. But something of its own, which may be exactly what you want to make of it. Something that says you don’t have to be defined by things outside of your control, that you have the power to forge your own path if you just know where to look.
“We don’t think about war that much,” Greenberg told Golf Channel on Wednesday. “We’re just trying to enjoy life and think positive thoughts. (My grandfather) is doing fine. He’s in good health. He’s in good hands. He lives in the apartment where I grew up. I call him every day, and when we get a chance to see him, we’ll hug him.”
For Lev Grinberg, this direction is forward, into the future, which, as he already sees, is taking shape.
“This is my first specialty, and I’m pretty sure if my body is good, I’ll go back to many more specialties,” Greenberg said Thursday. “Tomorrow I’ll just have fun and see how it goes.”
There is a lesson in this for all of us, even if Lev Grinberg did not intend to teach it.