University of New Mexico senior Caroline Jansson sits with the Mountain West Conference championship trophy in the UNM women’s golf team locker room. (Jim Thompson/Journal)
University of New Mexico senior golfer Caroline Jansson (pronounced yan-son) remembers the first time she traded golf balls with someone so that she could add to her then-modest collection from different women’s college teams.
Jansson, a sophomore at that time, gave up her ball with the UNM logo in exchange for one with the Mississippi State logo while the Lobos were competing at the White Sands Invitational in Nassau, Bahamas, in October of 2019.
That’s a good memory to have.
Since then, Jansson’s collection of golf balls has grown to 103, and they are all displayed atop the lockers in the Lobo women’s locker room at UNM Championship Golf Course.
Some of the golf balls have a significant story to their own, while others are simply part of the now-robust collection.
University of New Mexico senior Caroline Jansson says she’ll never forget this season with the Lobos. A golf-ball collection only enhances the memories. (Jim Thompson/Journal)
“That’s why I started doing it: it’s just a great memory I’m going to have always looking back,” Jansson, from Vellinge, Sweeden, said of her golf-ball-apalooza.
“When I was a sophomore I started realizing that I had a lot of schools’ different balls. I was like: ‘Hey, why not start doing a collection?’ And, it just grew really fast.”
Jansson, who contributed to UNM’s Mountain West Conference championship performance April 20, is looking to add to her collection this upcoming week when the Lobos compete at the NCAA Regional at Ohio State University Golf Course Monday through Wednesday. The six lowest-scoring teams and the three low individuals not from those teams advance to the NCAA Championship May 21-26 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Among the 18 teams at the 54-hole event, Jansson sees potentially eight new souvenirs, including one from Duke, the top seed that won the NCAA championship in 2019.
The 2020 spring season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, leaving Jansson with zero opportunities to add to her golf-ball collection. There also was no fall golf season in 2020.
“I went home (in Sweden) when (the pandemic) broke out in March (2020), and I stayed home until September and then I came back (to Albuquerque),” said Jansson. She is the Lobos’ No. 4 golfer, averaging 76.38 strokes per round this spring.
“I got to go back to Sweden in the winter, so I was very fortunate, and then to be able to come back here, too. Sweden is very different right now. The vaccine is very slow. People are not wearing masks. America is doing better.”
Next year, Jansson said she’ll use the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA because COVID-19 wiped out college tournaments. More opportunities to trade golf balls. Her teammates and UNM coach Jill Trujillo help Jansson by gaining golf balls needed when there’s a chance.
Teammates like freshman Myah McDonald are fascinated by Jansson’s collection.
“I love it,” said McDonald, the Mountain West Freshman of the Year and the Lobos’ No. 3 golfer this spring (75.33 average). “When I came in here, I’m like: ‘Wow! Where did she get all these golf balls?’ There’s like over 100. I was super impressed. She’s really fun and I just admire that about her, just keeping the team together. Her collection is something that will remind me of her every single time I think of her.”
Jansson said she hasn’t decided if she will take all the golf balls to Sweden when she leaves UNM. Some of her teammates want the golf balls to stay, she said. Trujillo said it’s fine if Jansson takes them with her, but Jansson expects they will be a heavy load for the trip back home. Trujillo said there are 242 women’s golf programs, so that’s a lot of balls to take home.
Regardless where the balls end up, Jansson will always have the memories.
“(This season) was a very different year because of the pandemic, but I’m never going to forget that we won conference,” Jansson said. “It was such a cool thing to get to experience. I always dreamed about winning conference. It’s always going to be a memory I’m going to have.”
University of New Mexico senior Carolina Jansson lines up her putt during practice at UNM Championship Golf Course Tuesday, as the Lobos prepared for the NCAA Regional at Ohio State University Golf Course. (Jim Thompson/Journal)
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