Arizona standout Gile Bite Starkute putting golf on Lithuania’s map

PHOENIX – Tucson, Arizona and Vilnius, Lithuania are separated by nearly 6,000 miles on a world map. They’re even further apart in the world of golf.

While they’re both cities of about 540,000 people, there are more than 40 golf courses in and around Tucson. Vilnius has more disc golf courses – five – than real golf courses – three – and the entire country has just seven.

Which explains why University of Arizona junior Gile Bite Starkute, while ranked among the nation’s Top 100 players in women’s collegiate golf by Golfweek, is a much more important piece of the Lithuanian golf community than Arizona’s vast golf landscape.

“The community is very much inspired by her, everyone admires her and the smaller kids already look up to her as an example,” said Mindaugas Markevičius, secretary general of the Lithuanian Golf Federation.

Lithuania’s golf community is fairly small because of the country’s late introduction to the sport. The country has yet to have a golfer in the Olympics, and Markevičius said the first golf course in Lithuania, which was a nine-hole, uncertified course, was constructed only 21 years ago. The first 18-hole course wasn’t built until 2005. 

In contrast, the first golf courses built in the U.S. popped up in the early 1890s and in Arizona by 1900. 

“She is probably only one of five women that play competitive golf from Lithuania,” said Arizona golf coach Laura Ianello. “She’s probably the first to ever play college golf from the country of Lithuania.”

Starkute, who began learning the sport as a leisure activity with her father when she was just 6, found the sport just as it was emerging in her home country.

Markevičius said golf in Lithuania started with about 300 registered players but has grown to more than 2,500 today. Despite the growth of the game in Lithuania, Starkute was unaware of the opportunities that were possible in golf until she took her game outside of the country.

“It was not really that big of a thing, but when I started traveling internationally then suddenly my eyes opened on what golf actually is” Starkute said. “Suddenly you come to a tournament and you see 70 or 80 girls your age playing better than you. You realize that there is competition.”

After experiencing higher levels of competition and recognizing her own potential, Starkute started to consider taking her career even further and try to become the first Lithuanian to play college golf in the U.S. 

“When I was in high school, I didn’t really know if I wanted to continue both (golf and education) after graduating,” Starkute said. “After talking to a lot of people who have been to the United States, and my family, we saw it as a great opportunity to kind of start my future.”

Gile began sending letters to collegiate coaches around the U.S. to express interest in playing for them. She received a response from several schools, but Arizona was not one of them. 

But Arizona found her, thanks to some good fortune. 

Ianello discovered Starkute while visiting a tournament in Ireland, something that wasn’t out of the ordinary in her recruiting process. She often visited international tournaments in search of golfers with the potential to play for her team. 

“I stumbled upon Gile’s group, and I had seen what she shot – a very good round in the first round,” Ianello said. “So I went to watch her in the second round. I was very impressed with her; her maturity, her strength.”

Starkute and her parents also saw potential in the Arizona program and after a conversation with Ianello, she arranged an official visit to the Tucson campus. The visit only enhanced Starkute’s desire to continue her golf career in the desert.

“I just fell in love with Arizona after coming here,” she said. “A day later I was like, ‘I want to go here.’ I think it was how professionally I saw it is, just the facilities and the resources that were introduced to me during my official visit.” 

Her passion for the game has only grown since she joined the Wildcats.

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