The University of Mississippi Athletics
Home Away From Home
2/16/2017 | Women's Golf
Trine Toennessen was nervous when she and her daughter, Ole Miss women's golf senior Maria Toennessen, landed in the United States for official recruiting visits, but after the two arrived in Oxford, they knew they had found a home away from home.
More than 4,000 miles away from their hometown, Maria and her mother still managed to find a piece of Grimstad, Norway in the hills of northern Mississippi.
"She was a little nervous but has been really cool about it though," Maria said. "This was the first place we went, and she just loved it. She's been coming twice every year. She just really loves this place. She feels I'm in a safe place. It was a very similar feeling to back home, so she liked it, and I liked it too, obviously."
Four years later, the senior is looking ahead to her final spring season with the Ole Miss women's golf team. It has been a great journey already for Toennessen, and it's helped that she has felt comfortable living in a city very similar to her home.
"It's a small city," Toennessen said of Grimstad. "The same amount of people live there as here in Oxford. It's just a place where everyone knows everyone."
While Oxford is similar to Grimstad in many ways, it's missing one key element: Norwegian chocolate. But what makes this legendary milk chocolate so good? Not even Toennessen knows.
"I don't know, it's a mystery," Toennessen said with a laugh. "It's better than anything,"
While even the Oxford cuisine can't match the essence of Norwegian chocolate, the Mississippi town does have one leg up on Grimstad: golf season. Even though Grimstad is at the southern coast of Norway, it still doesn't make for the most golf-friendly climate.
"The golf season is from the end of April until the beginning of October," Toennessen says. "After that it gets cold and the ground frosts and the courses are usually closed."
Despite the shorter season, Toennessen thrived as a young golfer, ultimately leading her to Ole Miss, where she is having her best collegiate season as a senior. Her standing career-best single-round average of 77.13 came her freshman year but her average in four fall tournaments was nearly two full strokes lower at 75.25.
Toennessen's fall included a career-low for18 holes -- a 69 in the Lady Paladin Invitational. Her best overall performance came at the Ron Moore Women's Intercollegiate. She punctuated a strong three days in Denver with a 70 in Round 3 to finish at 217 and in a tie for 12th.
After a strong fall, just this spring season remains for Toennessen, and then it's back to Norway.
"My plan is to move back to Grimstad. I told myself I would never move back, but I think it was about a year ago, I realized I want to go home, just because of the people there. We have a great university there, so I plan to work towards my master's degree there and then see where life takes me."
For now, the senior is looking forward to punctuating her career as a Rebel.
For all Ole Miss women's golf news and information, go to OleMissSports.com, and follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissWGolf and Facebook at Ole Miss Women's Golf.
Players Mentioned
