Elin Esborn, a 21-year-old Swede, is all-in with the Gators women's golf team in the NCAA Tournament. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Headstrong Esborn Finding Balance With 'Boring Golf'
Sunday, May 5, 2019 | Women's Golf
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By: By Jordan Perez / FloridaGators.com Correspondent
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Questioning a coach may not seem like the right move for a rookie college athlete. Redshirt freshman Elin Esborn, though, had no problem doing so in just her second collegiate tournament back in 2017.
As Esborn stood in the fairway and sized up an approach shot, Florida coach Emily Glaser took note of the difficult flag placement and advised to take a safer route at the green.
That's when Esborn offered her two cents.
"If we don't go at any pins, how are we supposed to shoot low?" she asked.
Doing anything else, Esborn considered "boring golf."
The coach tried to convince her otherwise then, and still does now.
"She's pretty firm in her beliefs in how she wants to do things," Glaser said. "But it's a part of what makes her really good."
Claiming the 2019 Southeastern Conference Tournament stroke play title was a major positive for UF, but early elimination in match play left the 10th-ranked Gators hungry. Esborn shot a 71 in her first round of stroke play, but fell to a tournament finish of 5-over par.
Esborn, now a third-year sophomore, on the outside offers a relaxed and soft-spoken demeanor. So how does her restless internal spirit seamlessly blend with a stereotypically low-key sport? Though Esborn grew up in Sweden playing multiple sports before channeling her efforts on golf in high school, eventually she locked in on a second.
Taekwondo was the one she refused to drop.
Now just a degree below black belt status, Esborn practices monthly in Gainesville whenever she's able to break away from school, practice and traveling for tournaments.
"It's easier to be calm and focused on the golf course if you have an outlet somewhere else," Esborn said.
Discipline and patience are two shared characteristics between golf and taekwondo, and were both necessary when Esborn began to battle a ganglion cyst in her wrist early in her collegiate golf career. She tried to play through it and train through it.
"I think that was a challenging time for her," Glaser said. "She's kind of an all-in person, so when you take that away from her, she can't practice the way she wants."
Esborn eventually elected to have surgery after the 2018 fall season, which allowed her to play pain-free this spring.
A month's time was all the recovery she needed, inspired by a fighting spirit.
"I knew it was going to pass," she said. "It was pretty quick to get back to where I was."
Elin Esborn (right) has no problem having discussions with UF coach
when it comes to strategies on the course. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
She fought her way back into a regular in Glaser's lineups, which was her main goal post-surgery.
"We like her because she's a bit of a wild card," Glaser said.
She's well aware of Esborn's raw talent, having been the first thing that caught the head coach's eye upon meeting 18-year-old Esborn.
Now 21, the young Swede's inquisitive nature, mixed with her ability to card big rounds, keeps Glaser satisfied, but also on her toes. When Esborn is coached or instructed to do things a certain, be it on the course or the range or in the weight room, she wants to know why.
"I question stuff a lot because I really want to understand what the other person means or try to see their perspective," Esborn said. "If I don't believe in what the person is saying, I'm not going to agree or do the thing they're telling me to do."
So far, she managed to allow herself to find a middle ground. That's good for Esborn and good for the Gators.
At regionals this week, Esborn's role could be more crucial than ever.
"We have the capacity to do well," Esborn said. "It's more of where our minds are at. The score is just the result of how we keep the good attitudes."
It's no surprise Esborn would respond in such a way. The second-year psychology major values the intersection between the mind and athletic performance. So much so, she takes a seemingly reverse approach to both taekwondo and golf.
She applies a more defensive style in taekwondo, which brings out the aggressive, bold style of play on the golf course.
"Routine is hard for her," Glaser said. "She likes to try new things and be excited."
The 16-hour trek between Göteborg, Sweden, and Gainesville was one of the bigger things Esborn chose to try. As a coach familiar with the difficulty in watching players transition into living in a new country, Glaser felt Esborn's late start to collegiate golf in the spring of 2017 was nothing but beneficial. But why Florida? It felt like "home," Esborn said. But the biggest aid in her overall transition? UF's coaches and her teammates.
When discussing a big move and a nagging wrist injury, Esborn seems nearly unfazed, saving the emotion for when it matters.
"She just battles," Glaser said. "I would say that's my favorite part; that competitive spirit she brings out there."
That same spirit is the one that could be a key ingredient to push the Gators over the top in the rest of postseason. Sans "boring" golf, Esborn hopes.
