Tonje Daffinrud first swung a golf club at age 10, when she and her father decided to give the sport a try. By 13, she was competing internationally as a member of the Norwegian national team, and today she is a junior on the Pioneer women’s golf team, which boasts a Western Athletic Conference (WAC) individual title as of last Wednesday.
“I did a lot of sports growing up and was always really active, whether it was soccer, handball, skiing, volleyball, tennis or hiking,” said Daffinrud. “But golf really appealed to me because it’s an individual sport, and it was just up to me to play well. I got hooked on it really fast. Since then, my whole family has started playing, and it has become a huge part of my life.”
Daffinrud racked up an impressive record during her first two seasons with Denver, including being named DU’s most valuable freshman and winning her first individual title in 2011 and finishing fourth at the Sun Belt Conference Championships in 2012. She now heads into the NCAA regionals with a WAC title under her belt—one of only seven women to do so in program history, and the first to do so in the WAC.
Daffinrud claimed the title after finishing seven-under (209) at last week’s WAC championships, six strokes ahead of San Jose State’s Regan De Guzman in second place. After her performance, Daffinrud was honored as the WAC Player of the Year.
“[Winning the individual title] meant a lot to me,” said Daffinrud. “I felt good about my game coming in, and I play to win. I knew I’d have a good chance if I stuck to my game, and I played steady throughout the week. To be recognized like that [as WAC Player of the Year] by other coaches and teams means a lot to my integrity and how I am looked upon by others.”
According to Daffinrud, the coaching staff played a major role in her decision to attend DU, as she was recruited by then-head coach Sammie Chergo as well as Lindsay Hulwick, the current head coach.
“Sammie Chergo and Coach Hulwick gave me room to do my own thing and follow my own path, and that meant a lot to me,” said Daffinrud. “The facilities are also great, and education is important to me as well. It’s a great university, and I love the environment. Being from Norway, the cold doesn’t scare me, and I love the mountains.”
The sense of individualism Daffinrud associates with golf is perhaps one of the biggest reasons for her success, according to Hulwick. In addition to last week’s performance, Daffinrud has tallied an impressive six top-10 finishes so far this season, and she’s in the hunt for another at the NCAA regionals, which will take place May 9-11.
“She’s such a hard worker and one of the most determined players I’ve ever seen,” said Hulwick. “She knows what it takes to improve her game, and she spends a lot of time outside of team practices working to get better. She has a focus you rarely see in collegiate women’s golf.”
With regionals and nationals still to come and her entire senior season ahead of her, Daffinrud remains focused both on improving at each tournament and on maintaining her academic studies. She is currently double majoring in international business and economics to pursue her love of traveling and culture.
“My first priority is golf, and I want to go professional after college, but I want an education to fall back on,” said Daffinrud. “I just want to keep improving and keeping sharpening up my game. I have created some good momentum this year, so I just want to get after more records and more victories. I want to be as good as I can, so I’ll just keep doing all the little things that add up to the big things.”
