Ukrainian World Golf Challenge

By Bob Leshchyshen

The 4th Ukrainian World Golf Chal-lenge and the 6th American/Australian Golf Challenge was contested during the week November 12-19, 2005 at the Novotel Twin Towers Resort, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia.

A total of 110 golfers from the following countries competed: United States (10), Canada (31), Great Britain (8), Australia (58) and Germany (3).  Among them were eight women golfers: six were from Canada and one each from the United States and Australia. There were also 40 guests, the partners of the golfers, and half a dozen children.

Golfers with a Ukrainian background first met to compete 13 years ago. In October 1993, 33 golfers from the United States and Australia got together in Hawaii to play the inaugural America vs Australia Golf Challenge, which was won by Australia. They met again three years later in Yarrawonga, Australia in January 1996. 53 golfers in total participated and, this time, the Americans won the challenge trophy.

In October 1998, the Ukrainian World Golf Challenge was inaugurated when Canadian and British golfers joined their American and Australian counterparts. This first tournament was held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with 74 golfers and 26 guests and partners participating.

In May 2001, the 2nd Ukrainian World Golf Challenge was held in Marbella, Spain with 94 golfers participating and 56 guests and partners. This was truly a world challenge in that Australia had 32 golfers, Great Britain 11 golfers, Canada 25 golfers, Germany 4 golfers, U.S.A. 22 golfers and there was one golfer from Ukraine. Again, the Australians took the trophy home.

In October 2003, the 3rd World Challenge was held in Maui, Hawaii. The tournament was commemorated as a memorial in honour of Myron Shymko, who died shortly after the tournament in Spain. Mr. Shymko was one of the main driving forces in organizing the Ukrainian golf challenge tournaments since 1993.

The daunting task of organizing the 4th Ukrainian World Golf Challenge fell on the shoulders of two members of the Australian Golf Association of Australia–Steve Hawrysiuk and Steve Kosylo. They rose to the challenge and planned and executed a very successful event enjoyed by all the golfers and guests.

The event began with a welcoming reception on Saturday, November 12, 2005. The play incorporated a practise round, held at the Twin Waters Resort Golf Club on Sunday. The practise round was, unfortunately, cut short after about 15 holes when a tropical storm resulted in heavy rain and hail. The golf course was covered with a white blanket of hail for a short time and reminded many of the Canadians of the cold weather back home. 

The tournament was played on four different championship golf courses – Club Pelican Gold Course, Hyatt Regency Coolum Resort Golf Course (where the Australian PGA was held two weeks later), Noosa Springs Resort Golf Club and the Twin Waters Resort Golf Course.

The tournament featured both team and individual player competitions. Australia was the overall winning team at this year’s Ukrainian World Golf Challenge. As well, this year, again, there was an Australian vs U.S.A. challenge, which Australia won. Great Britain won the 2nd Canada vs Great Britain Challenge. Individual awards were given each day for closest-to-the-hole, longest drive and highest points total based on the modified Stableford points system.

The tournament Committee consisted of one representative from each country: Steve Hawrysiuk from Australia, Bohdan Kushnir from Canada, Bohdan Swidersky from Great Britain, Michael Hamalij from Germany and Myron Luzniak from the United States.

The golfers were grouped into four divisions based on their handicaps to allow them to compete directly with players of similar abilities. The overall tournament champion [scratch] was Adrian Hawrysiuk (Australia) and runner-up was Glen Forsyth (Australia). The overall tournament champion [net score] was Alexander McLean (Australia) and runner-up was Adrian Hawrysiuk (Australia).

The winner and runner-up in each division were:

Division A: winner: Victor Korotky (Canada); runner-up: Bohdan Kushnir (Canada);

Division B: winner: Peter Wynarczuk (United States); runner-up: Mykola Charenko (Australia);

Division C: winner:Mick Masendycz (Australia); runner-up Slawko Kohut (Australia);

Division D: winner: Mick Gilles (Great Britain); runner-up Maria Kohut (Australia).

The golfers and their guests enjoyed the camaraderie on the golf course and also socialized and renewed friendships at the Aussie-style BBQ and at the closing Gala Dinner and awards night held on the final Saturday.

Canadian golfers have had a growing presence at each of these Ukrainian World Golf Challenges.  There were three Canadian golfers in 1998, increasing to 31 in 2005.

Canada is the venue for the next Ukrainian World Golf Challenge scheduled for July/August 2008. It will be up to Bohdan Kushnir, the President of the Ukrainian Golf Association of Canada (UGAC), with the organizing committee to work on this huge task.  The exact dates and location of this next competition are expected to be announced in September 2006.

 
PHOTO

The Canadian participants at the 4th Ukrainian World Golf Challenge in Australia