Courtesy photo Pictured is Teresa Toscano after a swing.

ESCANABA — Recruiting is an inexact science for college athletes and coaches.

Casey VanDamme understands that completely and is tickled he struck gold on a long-shot, long-distance recruit for his South Dakota State University women’s golf team.

The connection worked out so well that Teresa Toscano will be playing in the Symetra Tour’s Island Resort Championship at Sweetgrass this weekend. The 54-hole tournament begins Friday with groups off Nos. 1 and 10 tees at 7:30 a.m.

Early arrivals started practicing Sunday, with the majority of the 144-player field arriving Monday and Tuesday. Pro-Ams will be played Wednesday and Thursday. The field is playing for a total purse of $200,000, with a cut to the top 60 players and ties for Sunday’s final round.

The winner’s share will be $30,000, plus the winner will land a berth in the Amundi Evian Championship in France, the LPGA’s fourth major of the season.

Toscano is confident her growth as a golfer, and experience playing at Sweetgrass, will be beneficial this weekend. When she arrived at SDSU with a small duffel bag, she had very poor golf clubs and had a huge language barrier.

“I can’t wait. I’m really excited to see what I can do,” she said in a telephone interview Friday. “I’m absolutely optimistic. This is a great opportunity to play on a really nice course.”

The native of Huevla, Spain played at Sweetgrass last year as a precursor to participating in the U.S. Amateur. She also got in rounds at Marquette Greywalls and Gladstone Golf Club last year.

She graduated recently from SDSU after landing honorable mention All-America honors with VanDamme’s Jackrabbits. She arrived in Brookings for the 2016-17 school year.

Connections SDSU’s director of golf made while serving as an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee put him in touch with someone in PGA Tour star Sergio Garcia’s camp.

“He took my business card and he hooked me up with her coach,” said VanDamme in a telephone interview.

It was not easy getting Toscano, age 24, to Brookings, S.D. She did not speak English, although now she is quite proficient.

“I needed a special exemption from the (SDSU) president,” VanDamme said, noting Toscano was unable to get a high enough score on an entrance test, and her lack of English was a detriment.

“She came here with nothing. She came here sight unseen,” said VanDamme, a native of Perkins.

VanDamme had seen video of Toscano hitting a golf ball and knew she might be a good prospect. He said Toscano, who played soccer as a youngster, can kick a 35-yard field goal.

“She was really a raw athlete. She has great hand-eye coordination. She is a great kid. She smiles all the time,” he said. “She is a neat kid to be around.”

VanDamme said playing in this tournament “will definitely be a level up for her. She can play at that level. I definitely think she can do it for a living.”

He noticed on the video that Toscano had a fluid, powerful swing.

“I knew she had a lot of talent, you can see that on the video,” he said, indicating the sound her club made while striking the ball was special.

Her progress came quickly in a team format.

“Our women’s program, a lot of it, is because of her,” said VanDamme. “She kept chipping away at it, making very small gains. She’s methodical. She is the model for us, knowing you can get better.”

Toscano won four individual tournament titles this year and was medalist at the Summit League tournament to qualify for the NCAA tournament, which was called off due to heavy rain. The sports recreation and park management major is a four-time league all-star and had a 72.35 stroke average this season. The 5-foot-3 senior had a school-record 64 this season.

Her teammates played a major role in helping her adapt to her new home.

“My teammates were really patient with me. They helped me a lot,” she said, indicating she could read English but had no idea what her teammates or coach were saying.

“The first month was really hard to communicate,” Toscano said. Eventually, as she became comfortable, “I would talk to just about everybody.”

“You know you have learned English when you start to think in English or are dreaming in English,” she with a laugh.

While all of that was helpful, seeing snow for the first time “was a shock. Winter was brutal,” she conceded. “The first time I went outside I thought I was going to die.”

Toscano, who has visited VanDamme’s parents (Bob and Candee) in Perkins, will be forever grateful to her coach. “He gave me the opportunity to come here, the opportunity of my life. He has helped me out with everything. I can’t thank him enough. I’m so grateful for what he has done,” she said.

VanDamme had thought about being her caddy this week, but instead SDSU assistant Maggie Murphy will handle that duty.

Murphy will make sure Toscano stays within herself. “For me, I really get too quick and I grab the club so hard that I can’t even swing,” she said. “Mentally I have to be calm on the course.

“I have nothing to lose. Playing golf will be a learning experience for me, see where I’m at. It is another learning experience, I can test myself. I’m excited.”

Toscano hopes to pick up a variety of things by watching and playing with the professionals.

“I want to see what they write down in their books. I’ll take any advice they want to give. I’m going to learn, I’m going to have fun,” she said.