{"id":30056,"date":"2012-07-19T22:30:17","date_gmt":"2012-07-19T22:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.golf1.is\/?p=30056"},"modified":"2012-07-20T02:00:02","modified_gmt":"2012-07-20T02:00:02","slug":"introducing-icelanders-who-play-on-us-college-golfteams-no-4-valdis-thora-jonsdottir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/introducing-icelanders-who-play-on-us-college-golfteams-no-4-valdis-thora-jonsdottir\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Icelanders who play on US College Golfteams no. 6: Vald\u00eds \u00de\u00f3ra J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vald\u00eds \u00de\u00f3ra is one of about 15 Icelanders that studies in the US and plays golf collegically. \u00a0Valdis \u00de\u00f3ra studies and plays golf with the Texas State University golfteam. \u00a0She is a multiple Icelandic Champion in golf and Athlete of the Year in her hometown Akranes 4 years in a row, 2007-2010.<\/p>\n

On July 11th – 14th 2012 there were Club Championships in Vald\u00eds\u00b4s Golf Club in Akranes, i.e. Leynir GC. \u00a0Vald\u00eds was the defending Champion and defending the title she did. She\u00b4s the Golf Club Leyni\u00b4s (GL\u00b4s) Club Champion 2011 and 2012 and in many of the former years too.<\/p>\n

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Vald\u00eds \u00de\u00f3ra (in the middle right) Women\u00b4s Club Champion of Golf Club Leynir in Akranes 2012 along with her sister Fri\u00f0mey (in the middle left), who got the 2nd place medal. Photo: From Golf Club Leynis homepage<\/p><\/div>\n

Golf 1 interviewed Vald\u00eds \u00de\u00f3ra and here goes the interview:<\/p>\n

What is your name:<\/em>\u00a0Vald\u00eds \u00de\u00f3ra J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir.<\/p>\n

Which Golf Club in Iceland do you belong to:\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0Golf Club Leynir (GL) in Akranes.<\/p>\n

Where and when were you born?<\/em>\u00a0 I was born in Akranes, December 4th 1989.<\/p>\n

Where did you grow up?<\/em>\u00a0 In Akranes.<\/p>\n

What is your family status and does anyone in your family play golf?<\/em>\u00a0I still live with my parents and I have 1 older sister and 2 older brothers. Everyone, my grandparents, my parents and siblings and even my mother\u00b4s brothers and one brother of my father all play golf.<\/p>\n

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Vald\u00eds \u00de\u00f3ra and her grandfather Alfer\u00f0 Viktorsson, who is Senior Champion at Golf Club Leynir 2012. Photo: mbl.is<\/p><\/div>\n

When did you start playing golf?\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0I participated in my first tournament 8 yrs. old. There is a photo of me from that tournament, I was the youngest and the oldest participant was 80 years old.<\/p>\n

Why did you start playing golf?<\/em>\u00a0 Because of my family. I really had no choice, except for start playing golf. Then I also participated in a junior tournament in Akureyri and that sort of sparkled my enthusiasm, because I lost there in a playoff to \u00de\u00f3runn Gu\u00f0mundsd\u00f3ttir, in the Golf Club of Reykjav\u00edk (GR) and then I started practicing alot and won the next tournament.<\/p>\n

What is your occupation or if you\u00b4re studying which school do you attend?<\/em>\u00a0I am a College Student – I\u00b4m currently studying at Texas State, in the US and in the summers I\u00b4m working on the Golf Club Leynir\u00b4s Office in Akranes.<\/p>\n

Describe a typical day for you at\u00a0Texas State: <\/em>\u00a0I wake up, I go to the Gym at around 8 o\u00b4clock. About 9 o\u00b4clok I go to the practice tee and \u00a0hrs. 11-15:30 I\u00b4m at school and afterwards I go to the Gym again or the practice area. This is the plan for Mondays and Wednesdays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays there\u00b4s school from\u00a0\u00a09:30 – 13:30. Then there\u00b4s a practice at hrs. 14:00 where we practice each on their own problems or we play golf. There\u00b4s no school on Fridays and then there\u00b4s only the Gym or we play golf. It depends on our performance whether we get the weekends off.<\/p>\n

What do you prefer parkland style golfcourses or linkses? \u00a0<\/em> Parkland style courses, because one has to think more where to place the ball and whether to shoot low or high a.s.o<\/p>\n

What do you prefer match play or stroke play?<\/em>\u00a0 Match play – because there I can play my own golf, which is aggressive. \u00a0I like taking chances and cut for example.<\/p>\n

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Vald\u00eds \u00de\u00f3ra J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir.<\/p><\/div>\n

What is your favorite Golf Course in Iceland apart from Gar\u00f0av\u00f6ll in Akranes?<\/em>\u00a0 The Vestmanna Islands Golf Course and GR\u00b4s (Golf Club Reykjav\u00edk\u00b4s) Golf Course, Grafarholt.<\/p>\n

What is your favorite Golf Course anywhere else in the world i.e. apart from Iceland?<\/em>\u00a0 The course I played in Brazil on the Nick Faldo Series – I don\u00b4t remember its name.<\/p>\n

What is the most special Golf Course you have played and why?<\/em>\u00a0 That was the course I played in Cyprus, Europe – Golf Course Staff told us that there was an anakonda in the rough and I remember I was focusing so hard on being on the fairway.<\/p>\n

What is your handicap?<\/em>\u00a0 0,2.<\/p>\n

What is your lowest score and on what golfcourse did you achieve it?<\/em>\u00a0 That was a 67 \u00a0on a Golf Course in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

What is your longest drive<\/em>? 290 meters (317 yards) on the 16th in Akranes, but that was not in a tournament.<\/p>\n

How high in percentages do you estimate that the mental part of your game is when you compete?<\/em> Around\u00a070%<\/p>\n

What is your greatest achievement to date in golf?<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0Being the 2009 Icelandic Champion and getting to participate in one tournament of LET (Ladies European Tournament) in 2009 in Italy. What also ranks high is having the lowest score of the girls on the Faldo Series 2008.<\/p>\n

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Vald\u00eds \u00de\u00f3ra J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir, GL og Texas State. Photo: Vald\u00eds \u00de\u00f3ra<\/p><\/div>\n

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Have you had a hole in one?<\/em>\u00a0 Yes once in an Icelandic tournament in May. The weather was crazy. But it happened on the 8th hole in Gar\u00f0av\u00f6llur in Akranes, either 2006 or 2007.\u00a0<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

What snack is in your bag?<\/em>\u00a0 I usually have a bottle of water and a yellow Poweraid and sandwiches that my mum makes.<\/p>\n

Have you participated in any other sports? \u00a0<\/em>\u00a0I played soccer, \u00a0karate and practiced swimming with the Sports Club in Akranes, \u00cdA.<\/p>\n

What is your favorite food, your favorite drink, your favorite music, movie and book? \u00a0<\/em>My favorite food is My mother\u00b4s Icelandic Meatsoup<\/strong>; \u00a0my favorite drink is\u00a0Pepsi Max<\/strong>; I have a broad taste when it comes to music for example I like\u00a0U2<\/strong>, I don\u00b4t like Heavy Metal or Rock or Classical music – except for that I listen to most; my favorite movie is\u00a0Shawshank Redemtion<\/strong>; and my schoolbooks <\/strong>are the only ones I\u00b4m hitting off the course.<\/p>\n

Who are your favorite golfers name 1 male and 1 female ?\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0Male: Sergio Garcia and \u00a0Luke Donald. \u00a0Female: I have no favorite female golfer.<\/p>\n

What\u00b4s in the bag and what\u00b4s your favorite club?\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0The following is in my bag: \u00a0TaylorMade R-11 driver TaylorMade irons 4-PW; TaylorMade R-9 trees, a TaylorMade rescue club, \u00a056\u00b0 og 60\u00b0 wedges and my Scotty Cameron My Girl putter.\u00a0My favorite club is my \u00a09-iron, I don\u00b4t now why, I always seem to hit well with it. i<\/p>\n

Have you been to a Golf Instructor?<\/em>\u00a0 Yes, here in Iceland Karl Omar and Staffan.<\/p>\n

Are you superstitious?<\/em>\u00a0 Not particuarly. I don\u00b4t know if it\u00b4s a superstition but I always wear my neclace with three crosses.<\/p>\n

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Vald\u00eds \u00de\u00f3ra J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir with her sister, Fri\u00f0mey J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir, on the first tournament of the Icelandic Eimskip Series on Akranes Golf Course in 2011 i.e. May 28th 2011. Photo: Golf 1<\/p><\/div>\n

What is you maingoal in golf and life?<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0In golf it is to become a pro. I prefer to stay in the States. In life I want to get as far as I can on my own, stay healthy and continue having a good relationship with my family.<\/p>\n

Hva\u00f0 finnst \u00fe\u00e9r best vi\u00f0 golfi\u00f0?\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0\u00dea\u00f0 besta vi\u00f0 golfi\u00f0 er a\u00f0 f\u00e1 sm\u00e1 break fr\u00e1 \u00f6ng\u00feveitinu \u00ed l\u00edfinu.<\/p>\n

At last do you have some advice for other golfers? <\/em>Yes, to put great emphasise on practicing your short game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vald\u00eds \u00de\u00f3ra is one of about 15 Icelanders that studies in the US and plays golf collegically. \u00a0Valdis \u00de\u00f3ra studies and plays golf with the Texas State University golfteam. \u00a0She is a multiple Icelandic Champion in golf and Athlete of the Year in her hometown Akranes 4 years in a row, 2007-2010. On July 11th – 14th 2012 there were Club Championships in Vald\u00eds\u00b4s Golf Club in Akranes, i.e. Leynir GC. \u00a0Vald\u00eds was the defending Champion and defending the title she did. She\u00b4s the Golf Club Leyni\u00b4s (GL\u00b4s) Club Champion 2011 and 2012 and in many of the former years too. Golf 1 interviewed Vald\u00eds \u00de\u00f3ra and here goes the 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-30056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","cat-7-id"],"acf":[],"views":2077,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30056","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=30056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}