Imagine being a member of the women’s golf team heading to the Eugene Country Club for a practice round, driving down Country Club Road and seeing a golf bag on wheels.
A golf bag on a bike.
More specifically, a golf bag on the shoulders of a player riding a bike.
Pulling up alongside, and seeing that she is a teammate, an offer for a ride is made. The girl on the bike politely says no and continues on. Another offer is made and still she refuses. Persistence does not persuade and the overwhelming thought is, “That’s Therese for you.”
Sophomore Therese Wenslow is described by teammates in a number of ways, but the consensus seems to be that “determined” and “focused” are the best adjectives to label the native of Bunkeflostrand, Sweden.
“She’s very focused in her game,” teammate Michelle Timpani said. “She’s always walking fast and doing her own thing. She is also very calm. I’ve never see her get mad and throw a club or display poor sportsmanship. Therese is a very hard worker. She’s always the first one here and last one to leave.”
Head coach Shannon Rouillard agrees.
“Her dedication and her work ethic, her strive for excellence, to be the best she can be at whatever she does, plays a part on this team,” Rouillard said. “It has helped take this team to the next level. I know it has forced Michelle and Kim (McCready) and Erin (Andrews and Johnna (Nealy to get out there and practice and not just sit home.”
Much of the dogged determination and discipline can be attributed to the three years Wenslow spent at the prestigious Swedish Golf High School in Klippan, where at 16 she lived with three other students in an apartment, taking classes early in the day and playing golf in the afternoon.
“It was a great way to learn to take care of myself,” Wenslow said. “After coming here, I knew it wouldn’t be that hard. I knew that I was independent and capable of doing those basic things when you live on your own.”
Independence wasn’t the only reason Wenslow decided on the golf school.
“It was more like I had access to more golf courses, since the school was in the south and I was from the north,” Wenslow said. “In the south, you have a longer time of the year to play golf. That was the main reason I went.”
Wenslow endured a lengthy application process to attend Klippan. Twice as many people as the school would ultimately accept completed a number of physical and golf tests, as well as interviews, before as few as eight people — roughly half male and half female — were selected.
The beneficial thing about Klippan is that the small number of students — always the top golfers — inspires competition and increases the learning curve.
“At the beginning I was the worst,” Wenslow said. “What I felt was beneficial was the competition because the people that apply for it are the best in the nation. We used to go out and have little tournaments in the spring, and if you win those you know you’re pretty good.”
The determined spirit Wenslow possessed carried over into her college recruitment process. According to Wenslow, little attention is paid to European players by Division I schools, so she took the onus upon herself to do the research and mail letters and tapes of herself to coaches across the United States.
“Over the summer I talked to girls who were over here and asked them how they liked it and if they had any suggestions on the process,” Wenslow said. “It’s a jungle, you don’t know where you’re going to start. Not all coaches were interested, obviously, they’d never see me play.”
Rouillard was one of the coaches who was interested, and after subsequent meetings with Wenslow she was very impressed with the incoming freshman.
“She was very outspoken, determined, knew what she wanted and asked a lot of questions that a lot of prospective student-athletes don’t normally ask,” Rouillard said. “Like, ‘What are my goals for the next five years? What kind of players am I bringing in to get us to that level?’” And there aren’t that many 18-year-olds who ask those types of questions, and Therese did.”
Wenslow’s determination also crosses over into the classroom, where she maintains a 4.0 GPA in business administration.
But Wenslow isn’t all about the grades and golf. Off the course, she entertains fellow teammates with her continuing education in the English language.
“She makes me laugh,” teammate Erin Andrews said. “If she doesn’t understand a word, she’ll ask me to repeat it and spell it. She gets all excited when she learns a new word, and she’ll repeat it to herself for 10 minutes sometimes. She’s so eager to learn, and she almost seems to want to leave Sweden behind.”
Along with her English, Wenslow’s golf game continues to improve. Wenslow carded five top 25 finishes during the 2003-04 season, including her career-best finish, a second place at the Duck Invitational.
“Therese can go as far as she wants,” Rouillard said. “When she sets her mind to something, she can do anything she wants to.”
And if that’s the case, then the distance she has traveled already will only be a small fraction of where she could go.