Fund launched to provide scholarships for young Ukrainian golfers

The Ukrainian national golf team have been reunited in Scotland for the first time since leaving their home nation.

It follows the launch of a gofundme page aimed at providing scholarships for those affected by the ongoing hostilities.

Project Ukraine was founded earlier this year by nine women from across the golf industry who took part in The R&A’s Women in Golf Leadership Development Programme.

The women were inspired by their colleague, Ukrainian Veronika Rastvortseva, after hearing her emotional experiences of the Russian invasion of her country and the devastating impact it had on young athletes.

Project Ukraine’s first act was to reunite seven young golfers and their families at a training camp in Scotland in October.

Now the Project Ukraine group aim to raise £170,000 and help support post-secondary education scholarships for 17 talented Ukrainian golfers and their families.

The funds raised via the gofundme page will be administered and distributed by The R&A. Funds will assist these individuals in their pursuit of post-secondary education in a golf-related management programme, pursuing a career in golf, or continuing to play golf competitively.

Rastvortseva said: “The way the golfing community has rallied behind Project Ukraine in recent months has been overwhelming and truly humbling.

“The impact of war on all Ukrainians has been shocking but it’s especially difficult for youngsters who have had opportunities snatched from them in the most harrowing of circumstances.

“All we want to do is make sure that, while many people have been driven beyond Ukraine’s borders, the pathways to their dreams remain free of obstacles.

“By donating to this gofundme page you will be helping talented young Ukrainian golfers take the next step on their golfing journeys – a route many of them thought had been blocked by the onset of war and the fact they had to flee their homes.

“Golf participation in Ukraine was growing before the war and I am determined to do all I can, with the support of the Project Ukraine team, to make sure that the sporting ambition of our young people is not another casualty of this horrible war.”