Speeches
Finding the Greatest Title of All: Golfer Cecilie Lundgreen’s Journey of Faith and Identity
On Sept. 19, the Southern Virginia University campus community gathered together in the Knight Arena to hear from professional Norwegian golfer and SVU women’s golf coach Cecilie Lundgreen. Focusing on the many “titles” one is given in life, Lundgreen shared her story of rejecting and embracing titles and discovering the most important one of all: Child of God.
Showing the dozens of titles she had been connected to throughout her personal and professional life, Lundgreen shared how she spent many years rejecting the titles she had been given during her childhood due to a hard family life. Introduced to golf by her grandfather as a child, it became an outlet and led to her decision to be a professional golfer as a way to choose her own identity.
“I was trying so hard to find a title that would fit me,” said Lundgreen. “Not as a victim, not as the daughter or sister of this family that everyone in my small town knew about. But I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter if I’m the best golfer Norway has ever seen. Our worth is rooted in the fact that we are children of God.”
Before meeting members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Lundgreen had never heard of the faith. While traveling for tournaments, Cecilie met golfer Lorette Moritz and Reeve Neil, who later became her manager. She immediately noticed a difference in their personalities and the way they lived their lives, and felt drawn to them and their circle of friends.
“There was just something different about them, and when you travel 300 days a year you naturally find your crowd,” said Lundgreen. “With them, I found the people I wanted to hang out with and who I could be myself with.”
Moritz and Neil invited Lundgren to join them for church and participate in their daily gospel activities while they traveled. While investigating the Church, Lundgreen found support in her mother during the process. After her mother passed away, Lundgreen questioned the power and influence of her earthly titles.
“I thought because I was so rich and famous at the time, if the Lord actually would have given me this miracle to save my mother, I would stand at the rooftops and shout, ‘God is real, and this gospel is real because he saved my mother,’” said Lundgreen. “And so I was pleading with the Lord for that miracle.”
“He didn’t give me what I wanted, but He gave me what I needed,” she said. “Because two weeks after her funeral I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it was the best choice I ever made. I’ve been sealed to my mom and my dad and I can be with them forever. He gave me a completely different perspective on what my life was supposed to be. That is my greatest title.”
Lundgreen joined Southern Virginia University’s athletic staff as the new women’s golf coach at the beginning of the Fall 2025 semester and thanked the campus community for the welcome she had received.
“Thank you for the fist bumps and high fives, smiles, waves and ‘Hey coach, I’ll see you at practice,’” said Lundgreen. “I really felt welcomed here, and it tells a lot about you as students and as humans.”
The event opened with the university’s a cappella group Accolade performing “Could Have Been Me” and closed with those in attendance singing the traditional hymn “Love One Another.”