Young Aussie golfer meets the President
In early June this year, Mitch Krywulycz helped guide his American college team to victory at the Division 1 NCAA Golf Championship.
Australia doesn’t have anything like the US college tournaments but the fact that Krywulycz and his winning team mates went to visit the US President last week, may give you some idea of how big a deal this victory was.
It was the first time Augusta State had won the event and the team were officially congratulated by President Obama on the lawns of The White House. For a young bloke from the Shire it must have been a massive thrill and Mitch was kind enough to tell Aussie Golfer about the experience.
“I grew up in the Sutherland Shire, playing most of my golf at Kareela and practicing at Woolooware with the Endeavour Sports High School golf program, so being at The White House was very surreal. Listening to President Obama giving a speech to the NCAA Champions in each sport was remarkable.”
“It was a perfect day weather wise and he gave the speech to us on The White House lawn after we visited some of the famous war memorials in the morning. It was a very long day being up at 4:30am for workouts and not getting home until 1am the next morning.”
Attending Augusta State University, I couldn’t help wonder if Mitch has been to the US Masters or even played Augusta National.
“I have been to the Masters four times and played the National twice and will also play it twice more this year. I plan to live in Augusta once I graduate in June and turn pro, while returning to Australia for the Australian summer golf circuit.”
The new season started this weekend and at the time of writing, Augusta State are second in the opening event with one round to go. Mitch leads the way for his team in a tie for sixth overall. Most experts have Augusta State running as favourites to take the NCAA title again, given that all five starting members of the team are back for this year.
Aussie Golfer would like to thank Mitch for his time. We are firmly on the Augusta State bandwagon and wish Mitch and the team well.
Here is a link to the live NCAA golf leaderboard if you want to check out the action.
