When Marie Lund-Hansen started golfing at nine years old, she never imagined she'd play on an American collegiate team.

A native of Aabenraa, Denmark, her only option to play golf was for her local club team, because high schools in Denmark do not sponsor athletic programs. She would eventually elevate her level of play high enough to catch the attention of the Danish National Team.

Even as a member of the Danish National Team, she didn't think she would be recruited to play in the States, but maintained a positive-mindset about the possibility of becoming a collegiate golfer.

'If I'm good enough, they'll contact me,' she told herself. Eventually, Washington State University did.

The WSU women's golf coaches contacted Lund-Hansen during a recruiting tournament in Sweden in July 2015, and she took her first trip to Pullman a few months later. She immediately knew WSU was a special place and it's where she wanted to go to school.

"The minute you land you can just feel how everyone is proud to be at WSU and to be part of Coug Nation," said Lund-Hansen, reflecting on her visit.

While she misses her family and the Danish bakeries back home, she has learned to appreciate leaning on her teammates at WSU and enjoying healthy competitions with them. She said she still sees herself as her own biggest competition.

"You can never be too good," she said. "There's always something you can work on to get better."

Lund-Hansen is studying strategic communication and double-minoring in Sports Management and Sports Communication. She loves WSU and said her favorite memories as a Cougar are traveling to beautiful courses around the country and playing in the Cougar Cup in Pullman.