One Final Hurrah for Grimstad
By Kevin Ivany
HurricaneSports.com
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – With all eyes on her, Renate Grimstad is embracing her role as a leader of the University of Miami women’s golf team and is ready to help the program reach new heights in year four.
“Hopefully, it is going to be my best year,” Grimstad said. “I know I have one more year to accomplish everything that I have dreamt of since I started college. I feel like, finally, the game is there to actually go out and win a couple tournaments and make a name for myself and also the team.”
Looking back on her first three years at Miami, Grimstad understands her new role on the team, as a leader, and is welcoming it.
“It is funny, because I actually told [associate head] coach [John Koskinen the other day] how much more natural everything feels now, compared to my freshman year,” Grimstad said. “I remember, I was very insecure. I used to care a lot about what other people were doing and saying and I would try and find somebody to follow. “Until I realized that those who are successful basically do their own thing and they stick to it,” Grimstad continued. “So, I have just naturally felt like last year and even more so this year with the new freshmen coming in, that my transition into a leadership role has just naturally happened. I have taken the time to talk to the freshmen and give them advice, both before school started and also during and after [last week’s] qualifying [rounds]. And to basically be for them, what nobody was for me when I got here.
“I like to say that I had to learn it the hard way,” Grimstad proceeded to say. “I learned a lot about what not to do, which can be very helpful but it kind of also makes the climb a little bit more difficult. I just feel like we have a really good team. Individually, everyone is very good, but we all agree that working as a team is really important. And the freshmen are really open minded and are listening to the veterans of the team.”
Now in his 10th season coaching alongside head coach Patti Rizzo at Miami, Koskinen has seen Grimstad mature and grow into a whole new player over the past three years and is excited to see what her fourth year brings.
“The biggest thing I see this year, versus previous years, is just her maturity. She looks way more calm then previous years. She looks kind of like she is ready to take ownership of being the leader on this team and being the person that everybody is going to want to look up to, which has definitely been missing in the past,” Koskinen said. “Patti and I have told her many times that we obviously believe in her way more than she believes in herself and, in order to be great, you don’t want to be cocky, but you have to have some sort of self-confidence and believe that you are as good as you want to be. And she is looking the part much more than she has [in the past].”
As a collegian, the Bergen, Norway, native has competed in 95 total rounds and boasts a 73.69 career scoring average. She has notched 10 career top-10 finishes and has placed second in a trio of efforts, most recently finishing as the runner-up at the 2018 Jim West Challenge (Oct. 28-29).
However, despite all of the accomplishments, Grimstad is still striving for that first individual title, knowing she just needs to play her game of golf and not get caught looking ahead in order to accomplish her goals.”I feel like that win is ultimately a confirmation that everything I am doing is taking me somewhere,” Grimstad said. “However, I have changed my mindset. I am no longer focusing so much on the win itself but instead on what I need to do in the process. Which I know is what everyone else says, but to me it has been really important to stop looking at results or chasing results all the time. I have had so many tournaments with good rounds going and then all of the sudden thinking to myself, ‘Hey I am having a good round going, this could actually turn into what I have been working for over the past four years.’ And then I get so caught up in the moment that I wouldn’t end up finishing the way I wanted to. So, I have really worked on trying to force myself to stay in the moment and not get so eager with imagining or thinking about what is going to happen before the round is done.”
That is something that Grimstad felt she showed during qualifying last week. With inclement weather affecting the team’s overall performance in the opening round, the senior made sure not to get caught up in the score and bounced back with a strong final three rounds to earn her spot on the starting lineup in Monday’s season opening tournament.
After three seasons, Koskinen knows the skill set Grimstad brings to the table and knows an individual title can be accomplished. And he also pointed out that once that weight were to be taken off her shoulders, he could see the senior reaching new heights as a player.
“For her, it is astronomical,” Koskinen said. “She has been close so many times and many of her fellow countrymen have been winning around the country on different [collegiate] teams. And I know it has been bothering her watching everybody else win and for her to get close but not be able to close the deal. So, I think if she can just get that first one, she can do it many times over because her skill level is so good and because she has everything you need to be an elite college player and a really good professional.”Outside of her individual goals, Grimstad is also excited for her senior season from a team standpoint. For the first time in her career she has had to compete head-to-head against her teammates to earn her place in the opening tournament with a complete four round qualifier.
“I feel like it is different when you come [out at the start of a new season] and you have to get to know new teammates while you are also competing against them. That’s a challenge. A cool challenge, but still a challenge,” Grimstad said. “I just feel like everybody has been doing a little bit more every day during qualifying and some of the freshman have been really impressive too. They have been able to come here, and immediately after orientation come out for a couple days to practice before ultimately competing, which is what it is all about. This is brand new and it is important to know that this is the standard for college. You have to come out and qualify. I remember when I heard we were qualifying, I was nervous. I thought to myself, ‘Man, what if I don’t make it on the team? I want to win tournaments, but I have to make it on the team first.’ But just seeing the way that everybody has been so aware about what they need to work on has been awesome.”
Overall, the Hurricanes have seven student-athletes on the roster this season, including Grimstad, senior Macarena Aguilera, junior Kristyna Frydlova and sophomore Anna Backman, alongside a trio of newcomers, Daniella Barrett, Morgan Pankow and Franziska Sliper. And it is with this extra competition in practice that Grimstad believes will help break up a grueling and taxing nine month collegiate golf season for UM.
“I feel like the team we have this year is special. It is really nice to have an extra two players, because it gives the others a reason to just slow down a little now and then and take a breather, while not feeling like they have to be up here all the time,” Grimstad said. “I feel like one of the issues over the last two years has been how tired we have been at the end of the season. And I think what kills us, is that we all want it so bad, that we forget what we need to do to make it happen. Maybe everyone gets too caught up in the results sometimes, which in the end I have learned personally is not going to work. I hear them talk about making it to Regionals, making it to Nationals. Coach [Rizzo] believes we can win Nationals and I believe that as well. I have seen the team’s that have won in the past, I have friends on those teams. I know there is not much of a difference [between us and them]. It is about staying hungry and reminding ourselves that [in order to] get there, we need to work hard. Everybody needs to work hard. And if we get there as a team, that is something that everybody has to be proud of. Not just one or two people.”And for those who might feel like they could have done better, to not necessarily beat themselves up for it, but say, ‘Hey, my score may not have counted this time, but we still made Nationals, or we still made it to ACCs,'” Grimstad continued. “I feel like if we can embrace those tournaments more as a team, which is what we did my first year, we can accomplish our goals. I remember [during the 2016-17 campaign] we felt like, ‘Let’s go, we have to do this.’ And everybody was motivated to make it work and bounce back from everything that went on during that spring.”
As a freshman, Grimstad and the Hurricanes advanced through NCAA Regional action and finished tied-for-16th in the NCAA Championship, the program’s best finish on the big stage since 1992. In addition, the Hurricanes set a program record with 27 rounds scoring under 300 as a team.
Three years later, Grimstad is hoping the 2019-20 squad can make a similar run and she has the mindset that this season could be extraordinary.
“We will win ACCs. We will make it to Regionals. We will make it to Nationals,” Grimstad said. “I work every single day to make it to Nationals myself, as an individual, just to have something for myself to strive for. I tried to do it at the end of last year, which obviously didn’t work out the way I wanted it to, but I was close. And that to me was also a good thing to see. And as a team, I feel like we will get there this season, if we focus on the right things before they happen. And that is to get better, focus on the process and improve on those little things.”Her overall confidence is something that Koskinen has continued to see improve over the years and as the new leader of the team, excites him.
“I think, when she first got here, she was just searching for purpose,” Koskinen said. “[She was looking for answers on] how to do things, a routine. Her freshman year, her teammates were two of the most successful players in the history of UM women’s golf. So, talk about being thrown in the deep end right away.
“When she was coming in, we knew she was going to have to play. And to get paired up against [Daniela Darquea] and Dewi [Weber] right away, she was essentially like a deer in headlights when she first got here,” Koskinen continued. “And I think once Dani and Dewi both left, she kind of realized, ‘Okay I am now the person who has step up and fill those shoes.’ And I think she sort of feels more of a sense of responsibility to be more of a leader of the team and to lead by example. She is the trendsetter now and I think she is doing a really good job.”
For Grimstad, that trend setting moment began over the summer when she got to meet and compete alongside Sliper in Norway.
“I had the summer to get to know Franziska better,” Grimstad said. “She took the step up from [Norway’s] junior national team to the women’s national team. So, we were traveling to a couple tournaments together and also rooming together, which was really nice for us because we got to know each other really fast.”
“We are very similar, but also very different. It kind of just evens out. To have her here is really nice because she is a person that I know I can interact with and have a great time with. She is very funny and very open minded, making her easy to talk to. She is someone who is always happy and smiling. I can joke with her as a senior, to a freshman, which is really funny because she just laughs at it,” Grimstad said. “But I had the summer to give her advice. She was asking a lot of questions about what to expect, along with what to do and what not to do. And I felt like that also made me more secure. And when coming back, she made me think, what if this happens? What would I do in this situation? And how has it changed since I started, versus now? So, I have felt like since I got here it has just been gas pedal down and go, so it has been really cool to see how well it has worked out.”
It is this exact hardworking and pedal-to-the-metal mentality that stands out to Koskinen.
“She is a super hard worker,” Koskinen said. “She is always out at the course working, even when we aren’t here. So, it is one thing to talk a big game, but when you actually have a player who does it by actions rather than words, it is invaluable.”
Grimstad and her teammates will open the 2019-20 campaign in Woodbury, Minn., at the par-72, 6,297 yard Prestwick Golf Club.
Tee times at the Minnesota Invitational begin Monday morning at 8:40 a.m. ET off the #1 and #10 tee with continuous play for all 36 holes. Tuesday will be a 10 a.m. shotgun start.
