Q&A with LSU Golfer Student-Athlete Ingrid Lindblad: From Sweden to the SEC!
Leaving your home for some college freshmen is a difficult step. Traveling from north to south Louisiana seems relatively simple right? Even moving from the east or west coast to become an LSU Tiger seems like it wouldn’t be too difficult if you had to travel back and forth by plane. But consider the planes, trains, automobiles and time it would require to relocate to Baton Rouge from Sweden! This is exactly what Ingrid Lindblad had to consider when she chose to play golf for LSU. The life of an international student athlete has its challenges. You can’t just pick up an go home and visit for the weekend. There are foods that are unique to home that sometimes are not available in the states. But what LSU offered Ingrid was a new place to call home- with the great weather and the conviences of living so close to athletic facilities. She is a highly motivated, self-starter who exudes a quiet confidence. With a current ranking of 5th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, let’s see how Ingrid takes on the SEC!
Q: When did you start playing golf?
A: I started playing when I was 5. It was just in the summer, having fun with other kids. I started to compete when I was 12.
Q: Did you ever play any other sports?
A: Yes. I played soccer when I was younger and I figure skated. That’s about it.
Q: What was it like competing for Team Sweden prior to your career at LSU?
A: I feel like it helped a lot. We got to travel a lot, so you have to be pretty independent to do that. We got to practice English, too. Getting international experience and going to another country was really helpful.
Q: How was your experience at the 2019 Women’s British Open, where you competed as an amateur?
A: It was really fun, but it was trying. My game was not where I wanted it to be. There were a lot of things outside the golf course and a lot more people watching than we’re used to. If you play college tournaments, parents usually come. But, they air the Open on TV and people follow it on the LPGA tour apps. There was a lot around it that I wasn’t used to.
Q: Being an international student from Sweden, what was your transition to LSU like? Struggles? Successes?
A: Mostly successes, but being here is a lot different from being in Sweden. The food is a lot different, as well as the insurance system. I had to learn a lot about health care and all of that because I only knew about paying taxes in Sweden. People are a lot nicer here, though. People say hi to you on the street, but people in Sweden would look at you like you’re insane if you did that. Also, I went to a high school with around 280 people, so going here with 30,000 students is a lot different. I went to a really small school, and coming here, it feels like an entire city at school. My high school was all athletes, so we would practice in the morning and went to school in the afternoon.
Q: What advice do you have for incoming international students and student-athletes?
A: To enjoy the time here. I don’t feel like I have almost completed two years; I feel like I got here yesterday. It goes by really fast. Also, bring stuff from home you really like. I bring Swedish candy and Swedish chocolate as well as other things because you can’t buy it here.
Q: What is the hardest part about being an international student-athlete?
A: It’s probably being so far from home. My roommates are both from Florida, so it’s pretty close for them to go home. If I go home, it’s flights for about 24 hours. It’s hard to leave your friends from home as well.
Q: What is the best part about being an international student-athlete?
A: You get to know a lot of people here. Making friends from all over the world is awesome. It’s the same as if you went to play a tournament in another country. You get to know so many people.
The Arnold Palmer Cup is a Ryder Cup-style tournament featuring the top men's and women's university and college golfers matching the United States against a team of international players.
Q: As a freshman, you made an immediate impact on the team. Your accolades include:
ANNIKA Award Finalist – 2020
Arnold Palmer Cup (International) – 2020, 2021
Augusta National Women’s Amateur Invitation – 2020, 2021
WGCA All-American – 2020 (first team)
Golfweek All-American – 2020 (first team)
SEC Player of the Year - 2020
All-SEC – 2020 (first team)
SEC Freshman of the Year - 2020
SEC All-Freshman - 2020
WGCA All-American Scholar –2020
SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll – 2020
SEC Golfer of the Week – March 4, 2020
SEC Freshman of the Week – February 19, 2020 Louisiana Player of the Year – 2020
Louisiana Freshman of the Year - 2020
All-Louisiana – 2020
Competed at U.S. Open (5th among 24 amateurs)
As such an accomplished golfer, do you feel any additional pressure when you perform?
A: Yes. You always want to contribute to the team. When we play, if we take five players, four of those scores count. You don’t want to be the dropped score. In a couple of tournaments, I haven’t played my best in the last round. I felt pressure from playing well in the first two rounds, and struggling in the last round. I have thoughts like, “Oh you can’t do this again because you’re going to let your team down.”
Q: Do you have any tips for mental toughness in sport?
A: In golf, we usually talk about focusing on things you can affect. An example of that is this week’s tournament. We had wind, rain and hail. You can’t do anything about that. What you can do is focus on your attitude and effort.
Q: How do you stay motivated?
A: I always like to improve my swing. Seeing results also helps. If you look at stats and see things are improving, it makes you want to go out and play in a tournament.
Q: What is your favorite part of training?
A: I like to hit balls. I hit a lot of balls. I work a lot on my swing, so I like that. I also like putting practice. If I have a really good putting drill, I can stay there for two hours and just try to finish the drill.
Q: What is your least favorite part of training?
A: Nothing really. I don’t tend to work on my short game that much, so I guess that.
Q: As an All-American Scholar, what has your education meant to you prior to and throughout college?
A: Well, I’m kind of a perfectionist when it comes to school. I don’t like to leave anything out there. In high school, I was away a lot. My absence was 33% or something. It was more of working around my schedule and trying to finish all of my assignments. It was pretty hard to get A’s in our grading system in Sweden. It wasn’t about answering everything correct; you had to explain and analyze. Here, you get multiple choice exams with four answers for every question. I don’t spend a lot of time on school. I have always had an easy time with school, so I guess that helps a lot.
Q: What career do you want to pursue?
A: I don’t know yet, if I’m being honest. If I still think golf is fun after college, I would continue playing golf. Otherwise, I don’t know.
Q: What interests you about Sports Administration Leadership?
A: I would definitely like to do something within sports, if I don’t play golf.
Q: Who is your role model?
A: I have always looked up to Annika Sorenstam. She is probably the best women’s golfer of all time. She is Swedish and has given a lot back to golf. She has tournaments all over the world, and she is a good person.
Q: You have competed in at least 13 different countries. What has that been like? What have you learned from it?
A: It’s been very interesting. You think a sport would be the same in different countries, but it’s not. We went to Japan to play the World Championships in 2018, and apparently a lot of Asian countries give you 25 balls to hit before the round and 25 balls after the round. You can’t get more than 25. It’s apparently because the Asian athletes tend to practice too much. It was really weird; we weren’t used to that. Seeing different golf courses in different countries is pretty cool, too.
Q: What is your favorite course that you have played on, or your favorite country you have played in?
A: There is a golf club in Germany where I won a tournament. It has courses where you can score really low. I can’t remember the name though. There are two courses at the club and I really liked them.
Q: What are the three songs you listen to before a tournament?
A: The first one is a Swedish song. The second one is Something Just Like This with the Chainsmokers and Coldplay. The last one is a remix of the song Paris by the Chainsmokers. I don’t know, I can’t change it. I keep playing them before I play a tournament.
Q: If you were stranded on an island and could only bring one thing what would you bring?
A: No clue.
Q: What is a food item you miss most from home?
A: The kind of candy you buy. There is a wall with all these sorts of candy and you put them in a bag. You pay based on how much it weighs. They have that in basically every store at home, but no one has it here.
Q: What is your favorite American food?
A: I’m not going to say pizza because I hate American pizza. We don’t have mac & cheese, so I’m going to say mac & cheese.
Q: What food is Sweden most known for?
A: Swedish meatballs!
