Foreign exchange student Ulf Andersson loves high school sports, which aren't available in Sweden.
By SCOTT PURKS
Published January 15, 2004
PLANT CITY - Ulf Andersson comes from a place called Kristianstad, Sweden, where you can play golf only seven months out of the year.
"The other five months," Andersson said, "you're too cold to play."
And that's one of the main reasons Andersson loves it so much in Florida, where he's happy to point out, "You can play every day of the year."
Which is what he has done almost every day since he arrived in the summer as a foreign exchange student.
In between rounds also he has come to love much more about his adopted hometown of Durant: namely (host) family, friends and high school sports, which Sweden does not have.
"After experiencing high school sports and being part of a team I see how much Sweden is missing out on," Andersson said. "Being part of a team has been one of the best parts of my time here."
Durant's golf team wouldn't disagree, and part of that assessment is most definitely selfish.
"We loved having Ulf," Durant coach Dick Sheffield said. "He has a perfect demeanor for the game. Never gets too high and never gets too mad at himself.
"If he hit a bad shot, which he didn't do very often, he never made any scenes. He would just shrug it off and move on.
"I'd have to say Ulf set a tone for our team. A very good tone."
He also led the 13-0 Cougars in average at 36 strokes for nine holes and won the Class 2A, District 6 tournament with 1-under-par 70. At regional he finished high on the leaderboard with 75, and though his teammates played fairly well they didn't have enough firepower to earn a trip to the state tournament.
They lost to eventual state champion Orlando Olympia and the state's fifth-place team Orlando Dr. Phillips.
Most would agree, however, Durant had the best boys team in Hillsborough County and that Andersson was the county's top player.
Consistent in the regular season and tough in the important tournaments, Andersson is the Times Hillsborough County player of the year.
Andersson's teammates Matt Galloway and Kyle Hughes had outstanding seasons as well. Galloway was a senior leader and had an average right behind Andersson's. Hughes was right there in average and tied a team-record with 3-under-par 33 in a nine-hole match.
Together the Cougars' top three helped Durant shoot a team-record low of 141 in a nine-hole match against Bloomingdale in September.
"All in all it was great year for Durant golf," Sheffield said. "All of the kids were great in every regard. I really couldn't have asked for anything more out of them."
