{"id":29041,"date":"2012-04-19T18:18:49","date_gmt":"2012-04-19T18:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.golf1.is\/?p=29041"},"modified":"2012-11-14T03:23:44","modified_gmt":"2012-11-14T03:23:44","slug":"introducing-icelanders-who-play-on-us-college-golfteams-no-1-olafia-thorunn-kristinsdottir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/introducing-icelanders-who-play-on-us-college-golfteams-no-1-olafia-thorunn-kristinsdottir\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing: Icelanders who play on US College Golfteams no.1 – \u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn Kristinsd\u00f3ttir"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are 12 Icelanders, who currently play on US College Golfteams. One of them is\u00a0\u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn Kristinsd\u00f3ttir. Golf 1 will now start an introduction of these young Icelandic talents. \u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn is on the Wake Forest golfteam and a.o. played some fantastic golf at the\u00a0ACC Women\u00b4s Golf Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in North-Carolina. The tournament was held last weekend April 13th-April 15th 2012. \u00a0Participants were 45 from 9 US Colleges.<\/p>\n

\u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn finished T-2 with a score of\u00a0\u00a0+3 over par, 226 strokes(70 78 68)… which was an excellent result taking into account the extremely fast greens at Sedgefield.<\/p>\n

Who is this young 19 year old from Iceland? \u00a0This past fall, just a few days before \u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn went to study and play golf \u00a0a.o. with \u00a0teammate Cheyenne Woods, Tiger\u00b4s niece and the others on the Wake Forest golfteam, Golf 1 interviewed her. There are so many famous golfers, who have studied and played golf at Wake Forest; among the most known are Arnold Palmer, Webb Simpson and Bill Haas.<\/p>\n

In the year 2011 \u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn had a fantastic summer in Iceland winning both the Icelandic Match Play and Stroke Play Championship plus becoming Club Champion at her Club here in Iceland, the Golf Club of Reykjav\u00edk (GR) and becoming Icelandic Champion along with her team, GR, at the Icelandic Ladies Club Championship.<\/p>\n

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\u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn and Andri \u00de\u00f3r Bj\u00f6rnsson, Club Champions at Golf Club Reykjav\u00edk, 2011. Photo: GR<\/p><\/div>\n

Here goes the interview with \u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn:<\/p>\n

Name:\u00a0<\/em>\u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn Kristinsd\u00f3ttir.<\/p>\n

Where and when were you born?<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0I was born in Reykjav\u00edk, October 15th 1992.<\/p>\n

Where were you raised?<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0I grew up in Mosfellsb\u00e6r and lived two years in Denmark when I was litle.<\/p>\n

What is your family status and does anyone in your family play golf?<\/em> I live at home with my parents and am the youngest of 2 brothers and 2 sisters. Everyone, except my sisters play golf.<\/p>\n

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\u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn Kristinsd\u00f3ttir, playing golf in the US at the ACC Women\u00b4s Golf Championship. Photo: Kristinn J G\u00edslason (her dad)<\/p><\/div>\n

When did you start playing golf?\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0I went to a golf clinic 10 years old and I played in my first tournament 12 years old.<\/p>\n

Why did you start playing golf?<\/em>\u00a0Because most of my family was playing golf.<\/p>\n

What is your occupation?<\/em>\u00a0I am a student at Wake Forest, North-Carolina, in the US of A.<\/p>\n

How do you like Wake Forest?<\/em>\u00a0It\u00b4s great, I\u00b4m having incredible fun. I look forward to studying at Wake and then to coming home (to Iceland). I am having fun all year round.<\/p>\n

What is so great about Wake Forest?<\/em>\u00a0It\u00b4s one of the best Colleges in the States for practicing golf, but also academically. The Campus is small and one can walk around everywhere, and the college area is safe.<\/p>\n

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\u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn. Photo: Kristinn J G\u00edslason (her dad)<\/p><\/div>\n

What is Cheyenne Woods, Tiger\u00b4s niece like? \u00a0<\/em>She is great. She is one of my best friends there. Cheyenne is incredibly nice and forth coming… and then she is a clever golfer. She is ready to become a pro, but she is going to finish her studies at Wake first.<\/p>\n

How much time do you spend practicing golf?<\/em>\u00a0 On a school day I\u00b4m 1 hour in the gym and 4 hrs. practicing golf.<\/p>\n

How is a typical school day?<\/em>\u00a0 I wake up at 6:30 \u00a0and I\u00b4m in the Gym at \u00a07. School starts at 8 and it differs a bit when I\u00b4m done usually around 12 or 14 o\u00b4clock. Then I grab something to eat and afterwards hit the practice area. There- after we practice and afterwards I\u00b4ll have something to eat again. Around 19:00 I have to do some studying and we have tutors, who assist us.<\/p>\n

Did you have a culture shock coming from Iceland to the States?<\/em> Well, I thought it was little to hot for me in the beginning and there were many subjects on the \u00a0schedule there was much to do and that was hard.<\/p>\n

Is there a difference in the golfcourses in the States and here in Iceland?<\/em> Yes, there are more parkland courses in the States and the courses (in the States) are in much better shape.<\/p>\n

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\u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn. Photo: Kristinn J G\u00edslason (her dad)<\/p><\/div>\n

What do you prefer parkland og links type course?<\/em> I don\u00b4t know. I like both.<\/p>\n

What do you prefer match play og stroke play? I like both, but there should be more match play competitions.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

What are your favorite golfcourses in Iceland?<\/em> Grafarholt golfcourse and Ki\u00f0jaberg golfcourse (The latter one is especially scenic and will be introduced later this summer here on Golf 1).<\/p>\n

What is your favorite golfcourse anywhere in the world?<\/em> There is one golfcourse in California, which I have played, but I don\u00b4t remember the name of it. Well I guess I\u00b4ll just go with TPC Sawgrass.<\/p>\n

What was your score on the 17th at TPC Sawgrass? Did you hit the green? <\/em>Yes but the pin was right in the sunday position. I struck it to the left and then I threeputted.<\/p>\n

What is the most special golfcourse you have played on and why?<\/em> That was the golfcourse of \u00deorl\u00e1ksh\u00f6fn, because it is a black sand golfcourse and there is no bunker on the whole course.<\/p>\n

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\u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn checking out the putt line. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Photo: Kristinn J G\u00edslason (her dad).<\/p><\/div>\n

What is your handicap?<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 0,1.<\/p>\n

What is your lowest score and on which golfcourse did you achieve it?<\/em>\u00a0 That was a- 2 under par at H\u00f3lmsv\u00f6llur \u00ed Leiru golfcourse in the summer 2011. (Well this interview was taken last fall and since then \u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn has bettered her best score i.e. in the abovementioned ACC Women\u00b4s Golf Championship, where she played the last round at a score of \u00a0-3 under par.)<\/p>\n

What is your longest drive?<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 That was a 320 meter\/350 yards drive on Hvaleyrin (The Golf Club Keili\u00b4s golfcourse in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur, Iceland. \u00a0I had a lot of tailwind and the fairways were fast.<\/p>\n

What is your greatest achievement in golf to this date?<\/em>\u00a0To become Icelandic Champion in Match Play and Stroke Play. The year 2011 was a good year for me. It was also the first time I became Club Champion (in Iceland\u00b4s largest Golf Club), since it was the first time I participated. \u00a0The year 2011 is also my first year were I didn\u00b4t play on both the Icelandic Junior Golf Tour presented by Arionbanki and the Icelandic Tour, presented by Eimskip so I could use the time, practice more and I was more relaxed.<\/p>\n

Have you ever scored a hole in one?<\/em>\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n

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\u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn Kristinsd\u00f3ttir, Photo: Kristinn J G\u00edslason (her dad)<\/p><\/div>\n

What snack do you have in the bag?<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0I usually have a tuna sandwich and water and I eat a bite of dark chocolate on every third hole I play.<\/p>\n

Have you participated in any other sports? \u00a0<\/em>\u00a0Yes, I played badminton and played handball with Fylkir and Fram (Icelandic Sportsteams).<\/p>\n

What is your favorite food, favorite drink, favorite music, favorite movie and favorite book?<\/em> My favorite food is lobster<\/strong>, I don\u00b4t know what to say about the favorite drink part<\/strong>, my favorite music is something slow, with Coldplay<\/strong>, John Mayer<\/strong> or J\u00f3n J\u00f3ns<\/strong> (an Icelandic singer); my favorite movies are Disturbia<\/strong>,\u00a0Speed<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Titanic<\/strong>\u00a0and my favorite book is Silence of the Grave<\/strong> by Icelandic Crime Author\u00a0Arnaldur Indri\u00f0ason.<\/p>\n

Who are your favorite golfer name 1 male and 1 female?<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 Female.:\u00a0 Cheyenne Woods and Michelle Shin. Male:\u00a0 Birgir Leifur Haf\u00fe\u00f3rsson, Alfre\u00f0 Brynjar Kristinsson (my brother) and Ernie Els.<\/p>\n

What\u00b4s in the bag, what is your favorite club and why is that club your favorite one? \u00a0<\/em>In my bag are\u00a0Titleist Vokey wedges 60\u00b0, 56\u00b0 and 52\u00b0 \u00a0 Titleist AP2 clubs, \u00a0my Edel putter, an Exotic rescue club and my 4-tree. Then I have a Titleist DComp 10,5\u00b0 driver and some sort of stiff shaft on all of my clubs. My favorite club is my putter. It has Olafia written on it and it\u00b4s my favorite club because it\u00b4s the most important club in the bag.<\/p>\n

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\u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn, GR, with her favorite club, the Edel putter, on the 18th green of H\u00f3lmsv\u00f6llur \u00ed Leiru, GS\u00b4s golfcourse minutes before she became Icelandic Champion in Stroke Play 2011. Photo: Golf 1<\/p><\/div>\n

Have you been to a golfinstructor?<\/em> Yes, I\u00b4ve had so many lessons with so many instructors, for example \u00c1rni P\u00e1ll and Brynjar Eldon – they are both great.<\/p>\n

Are you superstitious?<\/em> No, yet still… if I\u00b4m playing and everything is going my way then I try not to change anything and keep the same relaxed mode.<\/p>\n

What is your maingoal in golf and life?<\/em> My main goal in golf is to get further – on some tour abroad, but I haven\u00b4t decided whether I would rather like to play in Europe or the US. My maingoal in life is to be happy and true to myself.<\/p>\n

What do you like the best about golf?<\/em> How challenging it is and difficult at times and how many great people play golf.<\/p>\n

How large a percentage do you estimate that the mental side of your game is when you compete?<\/em> About 80%.<\/p>\n

At last: Do you have some good advice that you can give golfers?<\/em> Yes, practice well, but don\u00b4t go and practice if you\u00b4re not in the mood because then you don\u00b4t get much out of it. One has to practice right and the most important thing is to have fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are 12 Icelanders, who currently play on US College Golfteams. One of them is\u00a0\u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn Kristinsd\u00f3ttir. Golf 1 will now start an introduction of these young Icelandic talents. \u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn is on the Wake Forest golfteam and a.o. played some fantastic golf at the\u00a0ACC Women\u00b4s Golf Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in North-Carolina. The tournament was held last weekend April 13th-April 15th 2012. \u00a0Participants were 45 from 9 US Colleges. \u00d3laf\u00eda \u00de\u00f3runn finished T-2 with a score of\u00a0\u00a0+3 over par, 226 strokes(70 78 68)… which was an excellent result taking into account the extremely fast greens at Sedgefield. Who is this young 19 year old from Iceland? \u00a0This past Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","cat-7-id"],"acf":[],"views":2051,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}