Photo by Cliff Grassmick

Three players from the CU women's golf team hail from Canada: from left, Dominique Pytlewski, Stephanie Simich and Julie Kim.

Call it the Canadian connection.

When University of Colorado women's golf head coach Anne Kelly brought Brent Franklin in as a volunteer assistant in 2003 and then as a part-time assistant three years ago, she got more than someone who was accomplished on the course. She also got someone who still has a fair amount of name recognition and credibility in his home country.

Since then, the Buffs have done a good job of parlaying that status into a pipeline of talented recruits from north of the border, especially the Vancouver, British Columbia, area where Franklin is from.

Sophomores Julie Kim and Dominique Pytlewski both quickly became regulars in the Buffs' lineup last year and this year are two of the top players on the team.

Kim, who was second on the team in stroke average last year, has led the team this fall with two top-20 finishes in two events. She placed sixth at the Ptarmigan Ram Classic to open the season, one spot behind Pytlewski.

Another B.C. product, Lindsay Caljouw, led the Buffs in stroke average last season before leaving CU in the offseason, and freshman Stephanie Simich, from Ontario, has found her way into the Buffs' lineup this fall.

Pytlewski said Franklin was a major reason she chose CU over schools like Fresno State, Oregon and Oregon State.

Franklin, an All-American at BYU in the 1980s, won the Canadian PGA Championship in 1989 and went on to several successful seasons on the Canadian and Japanese tours.

"If I told anyone that I was looking at Colorado, they were like, 'Oh, Brent Franklin coaches there,'" Pytlewski said this week as the Buffs prepared to host Monday and Tuesday's Heather Farr Memorial Invitational at the Omni Interlocken Golf Club in Broomfield.

"People Brent's age were telling me how good he was. He was kind of a big deal so it was cool."

Of course, not everyone knew the coach's name.

Kim, who was born in Korea, didn't begin really playing golf until her freshman year of high school.

The first time she heard Franklin's name was in the recruiting process.

"He's really good friends with my swing coach in Canada, and I fully trust my swing coach," Kim said.

"And he told me Brent knows what he's doing."

The admiration goes both ways.

Kelly said Canada has a strong juniors program. Both Kim and Pytlewski played for the junior national team, and Pytlewski played with Simich at the junior nationals over the summer.

"(Canada has) exceptional players," said Franklin, who is married to the former Kristine Hoos, the director of men's basketball operations at CU from 1998-99 and the sister of University of Denver men's golf coach Eric Hoos. "I've been saying that for a while, and I think we got two of the best ones up there. They're both such terrific kids. We're lucky to have both of them on our team."

Franklin said it was hard for CU to recruit some of the top players in the United States when he started at the school because of the reputation Colorado has as a cold-weather climate, among other factors. With his connections to developmental coaches in Canada, it was only natural to look there to help build a strong base of talent.

"I think they trusted what we were going to do down here and so far I think they're pretty pleased with the results," Franklin said.

For the players, having the connection to home with each other was also a big factor in them picking a school so far away. Although they chose CU independently, Kim and Pytlewski knew each other in high school and get to play together in the summer when they go home. "It was probably easier for both of us to get down here and already know each other in the beginning," Pytlewski said.

With Franklin, Kelly meanwhile found not only a new stash of talent to recruit, but she also got an assistant who has proven he is adept at teaching the game as well.

"It's been really great to have somebody of that caliber to work with and have work with the team," Kelly said.