Tide Women?s Golf Team Signs Two
5/9/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
TUSCALOOSA ?? First-year Alabama head coach Mic Potter added an international flavor to the Tide women’s golf team by signing two foreign players to the Alabama roster for the 2006-07 season. Rhea Nair and Helena Blomberg have become the second and third players signed by Potter to the Capstone, joining Kelley Vandenburg, who signed with Alabama earlier this year.
“I think considering the fact that I didn’t get here until June and we got a late start on recruiting, we were extremely pleased to have Rhea and Helena still available,” Potter said. “They are very talented players who can help us get better right away.”
Nair, who was born in Bombay, India and lists her hometown as Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, has been in the United States the past four years. Nair has attended two golf schools, starring for the International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head, S.C. and most recently for the IMG Ledbetter Golf Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
Nair won two medals and tallied several top-five finishes in her prep career. She also has served on the student government at IGM and was a member of the Leadership Council. Nair is the daughter of Ashok Kumar, who works in construction in Dubai and Afshan Sharafali, a customer relations manager at Bombay University. She is undecided on a choice of major at UA.
“Rhea hasn’t played in a lot of tournaments in the U.S., but I’ve seen her play enough to be impressed,” Potter said. “She will provide some consistency and can be a solid contributor to next year’s team.”
Blomberg, of Uppsala, Sweden, becomes the second Swedish player to join the Tide in the past four years. Carina Sorensen, a senior on this year’s squad, also hails from Sweden.
Blomberg has won Swedish School National titles the past two seasons while starring for head coach Per Westerholm at Bildningcentrum Facetten High School. She was also active on the Swedish club scene, competing for club coach Jonnie Eriksson in Uppsala. Her team won titles in the Junior and Senior National competition.
While competing on her club team, Blomberg won the Ben Hogan Cup in 2004 and 2005 and the Bankbooken Tour Riks match play tournament in 2003. She tallied several other top-five finishes and represented her region on the Regional Golf team for four straight years.
“Helena has won some big tournaments in Sweden and has a lot of maturity for her age,” Potter said. “We need to replace two key seniors on next year’s team and I think she can help us do that.”
Blomberg is the daughter of Johan and Monika Blomberg and has a sister, Sarah. Her father competed professionally on the powerboat racing circuit in Sweden.
Two seniors, Sorensen and Audrey Gale, will graduate from this year’s team, which is set to compete in the 2006 NCAA East regional on May 11-13 in Greensboro, N.C.
