LEWISTON — When Misha Golod was growing up, he knew that eventually he would have to leave home and come to the United States in order to pursue his dreams of becoming a professional golfer.
He did not exactly know when he would have to leave his hometown of Kyiv, maybe he would have to leave after high school to come play college golf here or maybe he would go to college in Ukraine and come over after that. But no matter what the plan was, he was going to come over.
As it turns out, his timeline was significantly sped up by the Russia-Ukraine war, and he left home to go to high school in Florida for his final two years starting in 2022.
He went to Windmere Preparatory School in Windmere, Florida, before playing the last two seasons at the University of North Carolina.
“It was in the back of my mind,” Golod said. “I definitely would not have come as early as I did. I came for the end of my sophomore year of high school. I definitely wanted to play college golf, but things kind of happened quicker than I thought, and I’m very happy they did.”
While the war is obviously tragic and forced him to leave home and move to the United States, it also allowed him to get better training than he could have received in Ukraine and eventually get recruited by UNC.
Now, Golod is participating in the 67th annual Porter Cup at the Niagara Falls Country Club.
In the first round, Golod finished the day at even par and finished the second round at even par as well to sit in a three-way tie for 15th.
“It was fine; hit more fairways than yesterday, kind of hit it in some poor spots early in the day, had a bad start and missed a couple short ones for birdie,” Misha said. “But just got to keep hitting fairways, keep putting it close, trying to make a couple birdies.”
When he was first leaving Ukraine as a high school sophomore, it was a big leap of faith for his entire family. He was leaving home and traveling to live further away from home than he had ever lived before. It was a process that was tough emotionally for him, but in the years since, he has been grateful for the way everything has worked out because he knows that others in Ukraine have not gotten the same opportunities he has.
He did have some friendly faces in the United States, though, as his uncle is a professor at Stony Brook University.
“We didn’t have a lot of options because for him, it was a matter of survival and pursuing his career as a golf player,” Misha’s mother, Vita Golod, said. “Also, he met quite good people, his community in Florida, the golf community … It was the only chance, I would say, for him to survive as a player and continue his golf career in the United States, which is the most competitive golf country in the world.”
Over these last two years, Misha has also been helped by the fact that Vita has been studying at UNC, researching and teaching foreign relations, specifically Chinese foreign relations and how it relates to the Ukrainian-Russian war.
Outside of just her studies, Vita came to support her son and give him some of the experiences that he has missed out on since he was only 15 years old when the war started.
“So for me it was also a good time to be in the United States and also to be with Misha,” Vita said. “It’s doing mom’s job. It’s also important to support him, to give him advice. Sometimes he never asked, but it was also part of my job.”
But now, Vita’s going back home to be with her husband, Oleg and daughter, Vitalina. While as a mother she is obviously sad, she knows that Misha will be fine.
During his career at UNC, Golod has a scoring average of 74.11 in 28 rounds played, with his lowest round to par being 5-under at the 2025-26 Fighting Irish Classic. As an amateur golfer, Golod has two top-10 finishes, both coming in 2025 when he finished in 10th in the Eastern Amateur Championship and in second in the North Carolina Amateur Championship.
This summer, Golod has played in three tournaments and still has multiple events to come before he goes back to Chapel Hill.
“The summer’s been fine,” Misha said. “This is my third tournament of the summer, so just hoping to build on a decent round today … and then I’m playing again next week and then hopefully playing the (United States Amateur Golf Championship), the first alternate for my qualifiers. So hopefully get a little bit better in the next month or so before school starts again.”
Golod is one of two Ukrainian golfers playing in notable tournaments this week, alongside Lev Grinberg, who is currently competing in The Open Championship on the PGA Tour. Despite the fact that he is one of the best players from Ukraine, Misha does not feel pressure to perform at a high level and show out for his country.
Whenever the war ends, the two will be playing a part in trying to bring the sport back to where it was in Ukraine before the war. The two championship-level courses, Golfstream and Kharkiv in the country, have been decimated by the war.
“The United States is not a cheap country to stay, to play, to travel,” Vita said. “That’s why I really want a golf community here in the United States (to) support more Ukrainian players in the future. But it’s also a decision of parents, of families to come here and to support their kids, … it’s not a family goal of many, many other families. For us, we just followed him. It was really important to support him … it was his decision.”
Tyler Spielman’s big day gives him separation from the pack at the top of the leaderboard on day two
While the first day of the Porter Cup was a tight contest with multiple golfers bunched up at the top, the second day was different. The second day was all about Auburn University’s Tyler Spielman.
Tyler Spielman headed into the second day of the tournament in a multi-way tie for first place and he ended the day all alone at the top.
Spielman recorded six birdies and got pars on the 12 other holes to finish the day at 10-under par, 64. His 10 under is five strokes better than second place Vaughn McMeans who finished at 5 under, 69. McMeans stayed consistent through the first nine holes and appeared to be in a good spot heading into the final three holes when he had a bogey and a double bogey and then a birdie to head into the third day of competition with a gross score of 69.
The rest of the top five was made up of Kaelen Dulany (-3), Evan Eichenlaub (-3), Josiah Edwards (-2), Jack Hayden (-2), and Juan Martin Loureiro (-2).
Jazy Roberts’ back nine helps her take lead after second day
The women’s leaderboard at the Porter Cup looks different after day two than it did after the first day. Some players rose up the standings while others dropped.
But at the end of the first day, Jazy Roberts finds herself moving up from fifth to first by improving by three strokes.
When Jazy Roberts headed into the final two holes on the front nine, she was sitting at three-under before back-to-back bogies dropped her down to one-under. Two holes later, she was back to two-under and she finished the day at three-under to take the lead.
Roberts comes in two strokes ahead of Lilli Downer and Maddy Bante who are both tied for second at one-under. Downer had an up and down day starting with a birdie, a par and an eagle before back-to-back bogeys. She managed to recover by only bogeying one of her next 13 holes to finish the day.
One day after having four bogeys and a double bougie, Bante responded with a clean day with only one bogey and six birdies to finish the day one stroke under par. The rest of the top five was made up of Lucy Darr and Alexa Phung both of whom finished at even par.