The Kent State women’s golf team got a boost this week with the signing of Martina Gavier, a top recruit from Cordoba, Argentina.

“She’s a really good golfer,” women’s head coach Mike Morrow said. “She is a very competitive person who has won numerous awards already.”

Gavier is a two-time National Match Play Amateur Champion, winning back-to-back championships in 2006 and 2007. She was also the 2006 Junior Stroke Play Champion and represented Argentina in the 2006 World Amateur Championships.

“She came for the quality education first,” Morrow said. “She really liked the program, its success and the facilities.

“She wanted to play for a nationally ranked program,” he said.

The team has players from Canada and Europe, but Gavier will be the first golfer from South America to tee off for either the men’s or women’s golf team.

But Morrow said she will know what to expect when she comes to Kent.

“She has been to the U.S. for an official visit in January,” he said. “She knows what she is coming into.”

Gavier connected with the program through a friend. Morrow first saw her play in a tournament in Florida right after Christmas.

“She was very impressive,” Morrow said. “Getting players like this helps keep the team on the top echelon of golf.”

Morrow said the biggest challenge for Gavier and any other foreign golfer is adapting to living and playing abroad.

“Some of these girls live pretty far from home,” he said. “They can’t travel home every weekend.”

Contact golf reporter Jeff Russ at [email protected].