She is the First Lady of golf in Mongolia, but she’s never swung a golf club.
That would be understandable, of course, considering that not a single golf course exists in her country of 604,000 square miles.
But golf is coming to Mongolia in 2011, and Bayasgalan Luvsandorj — a woman renowned for her botanical skills — will be charged with keeping her nation’s first golf course alive in one of the harshest climates in the world.
“I’m always excited about something new in my life,” Luvsandorj said through translator Natalie Peterson recently as she sipped tea at sidewalk cafe in the Gaslamp Quarter. “I will challenge myself to become something in this particular position and see how far I can go.”
Luvsandorj, 48, was in San Diego to attend the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America Education and Golf Industry Show. More than 7,000 people came to participate in seminars and see the latest and greatest in growing and maintaining grass, from John Deere mowers to sod farms to water-saving sprinkler systems.
“I think she thought there was going to be a lot more work with microscopes,” said Jim Connelly, a golf course consultant from Spokane, Wash., who was acting as one of Luvsandorj’s guides during her visit. “It’s my job to expose her to the golf industry.”
