Mention sports and a hole in the ground in February and most North Dakotans will go ice fishing. Fortunately for NDSU’s golfers, there is an airport in Fargo where they can board flights to destinations where the greens are, in fact, green this time of year. The Bison men return to the course Feb. 15 in Santee, Calif. The Bison women will tee off Feb. 27 in Sedona, Ariz.

“Winter can be a little bit tricky (for North Dakota golfers),” said Matt Johnson, head coach for women’s golf. “Some might think it’s a disadvantage and, in some ways, it is, but with one exception: all of our players are from this area and that’s what they know. The off-season can help you out; it recharges you and gets you motivated to keep going.”

Freshmen golfers are taking the lead on both the men’s and women’s side this season with Amy Anderson stepping up for the women and Nick Olsgaard and Nathan Anderson swinging well on the men’s side.

Amy Anderson won three fall tournaments and was named the Summit League Female Athlete of the Month for August and September. She tied for seventh at the Bob Hurley Auto Oral Roberts Shootout and came in second at the Wichita State Shocker Invitational. She has 810 strokes in 11 rounds and is 2 relative to par with a 73.6 average.

“The success she has had coming out of the gates has been the highlight of our season so far,” Johnson said. “We expect that Amy will be a big piece of the puzzle for how well we do as a team this spring.”

Johnson said he has been fielding calls from national media following her summer win at the 2009 U.S. Junior Girls Amateur championship, where she beat Kimberly Kim of Hilo, Hawaii, in the match play final. “There is some interest because of where she’s from,” Johnson said. “A lot of people think it’s pretty unusual that she’s from Fargo and that she’s so young.” Amy Anderson is a 17-year-old freshman from Oxbow, N.D., where she was homeschooled near the Oxbow Golf & Country Club. Her brother, Nathan, is a 19-year-old freshman on the men’s team. With 848 strokes in 11 rounds and 5 relative to par with a 77.1 average, Nathan Anderson is just behind Olsgaard, who has 846 strokes in 11 rounds and who is 5 relative to par with a 76.9 average.