Out on the driving range, Anna Nordqvist repetitiously hits iron shots while wearing a Kinetic vest device.

Over on the practice green, Niklas Lemke strokes the same 12-foot putt over and over, with two tees stuck in the ground as his training tool.

It is a scene that has become familiar for Arizona State golf coaches. Lemke and Nordqvist have earned their first-to-arrive, last-to-leave reputations.
As a result, they might well be the best men's and women's college golfers in America.

"With the practice habits and time (Lemke) puts into it, as a coach that's something you want to see from your best player," ASU men's coach Randy Lein said. "And Anna is the same way. Those two are going to be out there."

The two golfers are the "Swedish connection" that has both ASU teams thinking about NCAA championships. Lemke is from Linkoping; Nordqvist from Eskilstuna, about 75 miles northeast.

"We both knew about each other," said Lemke, who is in his senior year, "but we never knew each other."

Which player deserves the hard-work award?

"Anna," Lemke concedes. "She probably has the best work ethic I've ever seen."  It is almost comical to watch the two of them during a photo shoot, where both prefer to look in opposite directions instead of at each other.

Anna Nordqvist and Niklas Lemke, ranked among the best golfers in the nation,            have Arizona State's teams thinking about national championships.

But on the golf course, their focus is in sync, and the golf world is taking notice. Nordqvist was featured last week in Golf  World magazine. Lemke was the subject of a Golfweek feature one week earlier.

Lemke, the co-Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year, has won two titles this season and has finished in the top five in eight of his 10 events. He is ranked No. 2 by Golfweek and No. 1 by Golfstat and leads the nation in scoring average at 69.87. That is tied for first with Paul Casey on ASU's all-time list, ahead of Phil Mickelson, and Lemke has a good chance to lower the mark when ASU hosts the NCAA West Regional today through Saturday.

"One thing Niklas has learned to do very well in college is how to prepare for tournaments," Lein said. "Every year he has gotten better and better at that."

Lemke said he came to ASU with the intention of staying two years and turning pro. Now he will wait to turn pro after the men's NCAA Championship, the first week in June.

"I think it was a great decision for me to stay in school, and I'm happy that I did," said Lemke, who has graduated with a degree in sociology and family studies. "I came here for the golf, and I've been able to play against some great competition, but getting an education is a huge bonus."

Nordqvist, the women's Pac-10 Player of the Year, is ranked No. 2 in the country behind Duke sophomore Amanda Blumenherst of Scottsdale. Nordqvist also has won two titles this season and has finished first or second in six of her 10 events.

What makes her record all the more impressive is that she has spent the past six months revamping her swing with the help of Tim Suzor of Kinetic Golf Academy at the Legacy Golf Resort in Phoenix.

"That's not easy, to keep playing at a high level when you're totally changing your swing, and that's where the hard work comes in," ASU women's coach Melissa Luellen said. "The thing about Anna is, even with the changes, she keeps swinging with confidence.

"She has the mental discipline to know her game and play to her strengths. Off the tee, she can add another 20 yards, and when she does that she's going to be really tough because she's a very accurate iron player, and she'll be able to hit those irons more often."

The shy Swede leads an ASU team that is ranked No. 1 in the country, has won five team titles and will be a favorite to win an NCAA Championship next week in Daytona Beach, Fla.



Like Lemke, she said she came to ASU thinking she would stay two years, but she finds college so much fun that she's in no hurry to leave.



Nordqvist is a perfectionist who earned a 4.0 grade average her first semester and has been dubbed "life insurance" by her teammates because she always seems to have them covered.

"I've always enjoyed playing and practicing and working hard," Nordqvist said. "You never know what the outcome of that is going to be, but usually it's something good."

Niklas Lemke and Anna Nordqvist of Sweden are the top players on Arizona State golf teams that have become something of a melting pot.

The men's team, which hosts the NCAA West Regional today through Saturday at the ASU Karsten Course, features a lineup of five foreign-born players. Others are Benjamin Alvarado Holley of Chile, Fredrik Andersson of Sweden, Tristan Bierenbroodspot of The Netherlands and Knut Borsheim of Norway.

The top-ranked women's team, which will start play Tuesday in the NCAA Championships in Daytona Beach, Fla., has three international golfers in its five-player lineup. Nordqvist is joined by Azahara Muñoz of Spain and Juliana Murcia of Colombia, along with Jennifer Osborn of Huntington Beach, Calif., and Lindsay Anderson of El Paso.

Collectively, that's 80 percent foreign players in the two starting lineups.

"Golf has become such a global game, which you can see by looking at the PGA Tour and world rankings, so you never know where you're going to find the top talent," ASU men's coach Randy Lein said.

"A few years ago, we got maybe 10 letters from foreign junior players, and now we get hundreds. This is the first time I've ever had all five foreign players in the lineup, but that's going to change because next year we'll have 11 players on the roster and only four are international players."

Women's coach Melissa Luellen said she has recruited more foreign players almost out of necessity.

"We really needed to rebuild with quality players the last couple years," Luellen said.

"At the time, the top AJGA players were Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel, Angela Park and Julieta Granada, and they all turned pro. So we had to look other places for the best talent we could find and we came up with some good ones. It has turned out to be a good balance and it's worked for us."