University of North Carolina Athletics
"That's Golf:
October 8, 2010 | Women's Golf
Oct. 8, 2010
By Helen Buchanan
About an hour after tee-off in the Tar Heel Invitational, Carolina's women's golf team was halfway through its line-up taking on the fifth hole when something unexpected happened. A gray fox darted out of the bushes just left of the tee box, stared like a deer in the headlights at head coach Jan Mann. freshman golfer Katherine Perry and the other two golfers in the group, then leisured his way back into the woods.
Undoubtedly, as exciting as it was (if not startling), it was quite a surprise. Well, that's golf. Not that you should expect such wilderness to come flying out of the brush the next time you hit the links in North Carolina, but rather the same element of surprise is exactly what you do expect.
It was quite a surprise that after a chilling week that saw nights dip into the 40s that the first round of the women's golf tournament on Friday saw temperatures in the 80s and the bluest of Carolina skies.
It was quite a surprise that some of the nation's top-ranked teams who could really use a tournament like the Tar Heel Invite to better their rankings greeted each other as cordially and lovingly as family does.
And it was quite a surprise that the front nine could look so different than the back nine for the young Tar Heel squad. But all of that's golf.
It can be the most brutal, unforgiving game as frustration sets in and you think you're never going to make it out of the bunker or into the cup. But by the next hole or the next round, you could ace and all of a sudden be firing three-under to put your team back into the lead.
As Coach Mann said after the first round, there's two more days of competition. So what if No. 3 Alabama came out swinging and fired 12-under on the day? It may not happen again this weekend. So what if a young team psyched itself out on a course they believed in their hearts they should know better? Truthfully, they do know it well and they know they can shoot under par.
The Carolina women's golf team is much like that fox. He knew the course well enough to know it was safe to come out in daylight. He knew that as soon as he was seen by players, coaches and fans he could be in trouble. But more importantly for him, he knew that with a little swagger and the right attitude, he could waltz back to his business and leave an impression on the rest of the field.
Helen Buchanan is a contributor to Tar Heel Monthly magazine.
![Images from the first round of the 2026 Gators Invitational on Friday, March 6, 2026 at Mark Bostick Golf Course at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL. [Photo by Matt Pendleton Photography for North Carolina Tar Heels Athletics]](https://images.sidearmdev.com/resize?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net%2Fsidearm.nextgen.sites%2Func.sidearmsports.com%2Fimages%2F2026%2F3%2F7%2F260306-NCAAWGOLF-UNC-GatorsInvitational-0828-MattPendleton_copy.jpg&height=340&type=webp)
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