Should you hear that golf is a global game, that it is growing, and that it is especially strong in the women’s segment, you can probably find significant stories to quantify all of that.

Or you could visit Blue Hill CC in Canton next Monday and Tuesday to see for yourself at the 15-team Boston College Intercollegiate. You might at first think a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly has convened, but trust me, this is women’s college golf in the year 2021 and it is a beautiful, inspiring thing.

“Having international student-athletes on your team can only broaden the perspective of each member of the team,” said Rollins College women’s golf coach Julie Garner, “if they are willing to listen to and learn from others.”

When she brings her team north for the tournament, Garner will have players from Germany (Katharina Hesse), Panama (Carla Alvarez Perez), and Switzerland (Olivia Tamburlini). That the Tars, perennially a strong Div. 2 program, will not feel out of place is a testament to today’s landscape, because there are great players in all corners of the world and diligent coaches are welcoming them.

“Golf is pulling them here and these (international players) cherish the opportunity to play here, to study here, to work here,” said Boston University coach Bruce Chalas whose roster has players from Vietnam (Hanako Kawasaki), China (Flair Kuan), Australia (Alice Fan), and South Korea (Kristen Min Ju Kim).

Chalas, a premier amateur player in his day, one who qualified for 14 USGA championships, is in his 14th year as coach of the BU women’s team and totally embraces the influx of international student-athletes. As a coach, he admires the sacrifice they are making.

“They are leaving home, leaving their family, their friends, their surroundings, their food, their culture. It’s a big challenge, but when they get here, they’ve already traveled, they know time-management, so they can juggle classes, homework, and practice.”

The Boston College Intercollegiate will be one small slice of a bigger women’s golf picture, but the snapshot it will offer is striking. Coach Drew Kayser’s Eagles have a roster that includes Nathalie Irlbacher from Germany, Angel Lin from British Columbia, Leah Temple Lang from Ireland, Canice Screene from England, and Anaya Barthakur from India.

Alice Fan was born in China, grew up in Melbourne, Australia, and plays golf for Boston University. Global as it gets.

Don’t stop there. Glance over at Penn State where a roster includes a golfer from Ecuador and one from France. Or study Yale, which has two golfers from China. The University of Hartford has a competitor from Bolivia, Siena’s roster includes a woman from Brazil, and Merrimack has talented golfers from India, Prakruthi Sastry, and from China, YiTing Pan, who already has a nickname, “Ada.”

Mexico, Sweden, Argentina, Philippines, and Abu Dhabi will also be represented at Blue Hill CC.

“There are so many good players on the international front,” said Kayser. “It kind of falls in line with the LPGA, which is very international.”

Garner dismisses narrow-minded folks who suggest that scholarships for U.S. universities “should be given to U.S. student athletes.” Now in her 25th year in coaching and hugely respected in her industry, Garner insists “that feeling does not seem to have much traction with the players themselves, and to my knowledge never has.”

Chalas and Kayser agree with Garner’s belief that international players have helped elevate the women’s college game, which only benefits the good American players.

“It makes the college teams deeper, as the talent pool is pretty substantial outside the U.S.,” she said.

Chalas has coached players from Iceland and Thailand, and loves to tell about the trip he made to the Czech Republic to recruit Adela Cejnarova and Katerina Doleckova, among others. “They took me to their golf club – but there is no golf course at their golf club,” he said.

“It is indoors. Simulators and a putting green, that was their club.”

This upbringing of fewer frills and more rudimentary introductions to golf often makes for a more prepared player, said Chalas.

“I also think it’s easier to build camaraderie when you have players from different countries. Most of them don’t have their family support right here. So, they have to make decisions and that’s good because what is golf? It’s about learning to make good decisions – every shot, every day.”

There is also that popular adage that has been true since before the days of hickory, how golf teaches us life lessons. Well, in this era of diversity and inclusion, Garner sees international golfers as a marvelous bridge to better understanding.

“We like to use it to improve cultural awareness for the college-age kids,” she said. “It is a benefit for student-athletes to be around players from all over the world.”