Internationals Spark Women's Golf Heading To ACC Championships

Thursday, April 13

Greensboro, N.C. (Sedgefield C.C.)

All Day

North Carolina

ACC Championship 1st & 2nd Rounds (Stroke Play)

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

Internationals Spark Women's Golf Heading To ACC Championships

April 12, 2023 | Women's Golf

By: Jake Patterson

For many international students, their time at Carolina is a first taste of American life. They may have never primarily communicated in English, and their only knowledge of UNC is the campus was Michael Jordan's and Mia Hamm's collegiate stomping grounds. The academic load can be difficult to navigate, especially considering the rich social and extracurricular scenes that dominate students' free time.

International student-athletes have additional responsibilities to manage; they must work through the challenges a new culture presents while practicing and playing a competitive and demanding sport each week.

Despite those challenges, Carolina women's golf coach Aimee Neff knows her team is up to the task. Six of the nine players on the roster originate from outside the United States.

This week, UNC's lineup in the 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships includes senior Kayla Smith, a native of Burlington, N.C., and five internationals – first-round starters Krista Junkkari, a senior from Elimäki, Finland; Crista Izuzquiza, a junior from Madrid, Spain; Megan Streicher, a freshman from Boland, South Africa; and Vilde Nystrøm, a freshman from Stavanger, Norway; and Natalia Aseguinolaza, a junior from San Sebastian, Spain, who is the alternate and could sub in a later round.

Junkkari leads UNC this season in stroke average at 72.59 and is third all-time at Carolina (Smith is UNC's career stroke average leader at 73.43). Streicher is third this year at 73.88 and has been Carolina's top finisher in two of the last three stroke play tournaments and Izuzquiza has played even par in her last three starts, which included a career-best tie for 10^th in Athens, Ga.

Neff says the international movement in women's college golf started with Dan Brooks, the longtime head coach at Duke, where he has led the Blue Devils to seven NCAA titles. Neff says Brooks began to recruit international players in the late 1990s after seeing how many talented prospects overseas were being overlooked.

Neff credits part of this international movement to the national team experience almost all international golfers receive from a young age. Outside of the U.S., countries have youth national golf teams and golf academies that allow players to focus solely on golf and travel to tournaments across the world. That single-sport focus on golf is a tradeoff for Neff, as she typically prefers to recruit athletes that play multiple sports.

"The nice thing, though, about some of the internationals I've recruited who maybe have just played golf, is that they've been on a team," says Neff. "They get that concept of representing UNC because that translates easily to them."

The connections made through each player's national team can be comforting as they represent UNC across the United States. The Tar Heels often have national team counterparts that compete on opposing teams. For Junkkari, her competitors can make the U.S. feel more like home.

"It's a little bit of a small community inside college golf and just seeing people from the same country and being like 'hey, we can talk now', that's nice," says Junkkari, who has become Carolina's all-time leader in stroke average.

For Neff, building a community among her players is just as important as coaching her team on the golf course. With current student-athletes from North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania as well as Finland, Norway, Singapore, South Africa and Spain, Neff does everything she can to unite players convening in Chapel Hill from across the world.

At the start of each season, Neff makes every player deliver a presentation on their home culture. Never forgetting the players' status as students, Neff promptly gives the team a geography quiz after finishing the presentations.

The conversations about each unique culture continue with passion projects Neff has each player present. These presentations must be made on an activity outside of golf and academics that is unique to everyone.

As Inez Ng, a freshman from Singapore, says, "Most of the time we're spending together is basically on a golf course or golf-related, so this a good way for us to focus on something else and not always have our minds on golf and school."

While Neff plays a key role in fostering the team's culture, it's up to the players to embrace their diversity and cement a thriving team dynamic. One of the team's favorite modes of bonding – food.

Junkkari says sharing meals provides balance in each player's packed schedule, "No one's losing time, but we're spending time together, and it's a way to just track away from the stress."

Peanut butter flavored yogurt with Reese's Cup topping always draws the team together. Even though Junkkari is admittedly not a big fan, she says with a laugh the team really connects over peanut butter.

Neff is proud of her team's ability to bond, and her players' own unique culture and understands the impact it will have on players after leaving the program.

"It's been really cool because I think that they take pride in the fact that you get to learn from other countries and cultures."

Junkkari agrees.

"These are some of the only chances when you get to experience that deep level of understanding of other people's cultures."

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The ACC Championship is Thursday through Sunday at the Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro. The format is two rounds of stroke play on Thursday and another 18 holes Friday. The top four teams advance to match play semifinals on Saturday with a championship match set for Sunday morning.

The semifinal and championship matches will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.

Carolina is the No. 7 seed and is paired with No. 8 Virginia Tech and No. 9 Louisville in Thursday's first round. The Tar Heels will begin play on the 10^th hole with tee times starting at 8:50 a.m.

The teams are seeded as follows: 1- Wake Forest, 2- Florida State, 3- Virginia, 4- Clemson, 5-Duke, 6-NC State, 7-UNC, 8- Virginia Tech, 9- Louisville, 10- Notre Dame, 11- Miami, 12- Boston College.