While every freshman at North Carolina has to deal with the typical adjustments that accompany the transition to college life, freshman women’s golf phenom Elizabeth Mallett has to deal with all that and then some.
But after coming to Chapel Hill in August for preseason practice without ever spending more than 48 hours in America, Mallett, from Sutton Coldfield, England, is fitting in just fine with her new team.
Coach Jan Mann praised the talented freshman for her hard work in assimilating into her new life.
“It’s always an adjustment,” Mann said. “Particularly coming from so far away and just getting used to the school environment and then the team.”
Prior to this fall, Mallett had never played on an American golf course.
“We don’t have grass like this (in England),” Mallett said. “We have more tightly knitted grass whereas this kind of creeps along the surface, so I kind of struggled for the first few tournaments, not going to lie.”
Mallett, who tied for 26th overall at the Liz Murphey Fall Preview in Georgia just last weekend, finished tied for 15th overall this weekend at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational at UNC Finley Golf Course.
With a total of 96 golfers competing in the tournament, the young freshman is catching up to — and often surpassing — her new collegiate competitors.
“One of the things you’ll notice about Elizabeth, she always gets better and better each day,” Mann said.