Glancing at the women's golf team's roster, one is automatically struck by the absence of Americans. In what has become a melting pot of cultures characteristic of most large cities, the Blue Devils have become a unique entity both at Duke and in the world of college golf.
"Last year we had five foreigners and one Indianan on the team," said head coach Dan Brooks. "Now we've got two Americans. I brought the American someone to hangout with."
With four countries represented among the team's six players, the Blue Devils are by far Duke's most geographically diverse athletic team. Duke differs from its competition in that the majority of its players are from overseas.
The eccentric mix of Western European, East Asian and American cultures has created a distinct quality that when fused together has been strong enough to spark two NCAA titles--including one in 2002--and numerous No. 1 rankings.
In a sport that has seen a recent influx of foreign collegiate players, the Blue Devils seem to have jumped head-first into the international pool.
The Blue Devils have just two Americans on this year's team, one up from last year's national championship squad.
"When we had five foreigners and one American it was probably more [diverse] than most [teams], but it's very common to have at least half of the team be foreign. There are a lot of teams that have a good number of foreigners on their traveling team," Brooks said.
Since many foreign universities do not foster the same kind of alliance between academics and athletics that is so commonly found at American schools, many foreign players opt to come to the United States to pursue both their studies and athletic interests.
"In Sweden you can't combine golf and school. So you have a lot of Swedish players over here to play college golf," said Djursholm, Sweden native Kristina Engstrom.
Duke maintains a strong appeal to junior golfers, American and foreign alike. Engstrom and fellow foriegn teammates Niloufar Aazam-Zanganeh and Maria Garcia-Estrada all agree that for international players seeking the right balance of academics and top-rate golf, Duke possesses this ideal combination.
"What better place to come to than Duke, where you have one of the top teams and a great education?" Garcia-Estrada said. "There are hardly any schools that have such a good golf program and good education."
With many questioning the disappearance of American golfers, Brooks maintains that his team's international flavor is not the result of active, overseas recruitment but rather a byproduct of word of mouth.
"It wasn't really by design," Brooks said. "I didn't set out to recruit foreign players. We had a few foreigners that came before this most recent era. I have always paid attention to the people on my team as far as who I am going to recruit."
Many of Brooks' current and former recruits have come from recommendations from his players.
It is these recommendations that are largely responsible for shaping the foreign nature of the Duke team.
"The neat thing about golf is that people get to know one another," Brooks said. "In junior golf they're actually walking with each other on the fairways so you have this great opportunity to have character bring in character if you just listen to them and listen to who they have walked the fairways with and who they have enjoyed being with. So low and behold you have a lot of foreigners on the team before you know it."
The small, especially diverse women's team has a unique character that is the direct result of the fusion of the various languages and cultures of its players. The Blue Devils agree that their diverse backgrounds have created a special environment that brings more to the table than just golf.
"I have the opportunity to learn about so many different cultures," said freshman and American Liz Janangelo. "You can truly understand what [foreign players] have to go through in order to achieve what comes so easily to Americans."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.