Leading female amateur Lizzie Prior is heading off to the United States next month to take up a full golf scholarship at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
Prior, who is a member at Burhill Golf Club in Surrey, has already won three times this year, with victories at the Sunningdale Critchley Salver, Roehampton Gold Cup and Fairhaven Trophy.
While her impressive form earned her a rare invite to play in the otherwise all-male field in the recent men’s EuroPro Tour event held at Burhill last month. Her string of top results also booked her a place in the England team at the recent German Girls Championship, where she finished in a tie for 16th, as well as the upcoming European Girls Team Championship.
“I’m beyond excited about the prospect of starting at UNLV in August. It’s been a dream of mine for a while now to go down the collegiate route in the US, and I look forward to making the most of the great facilities that playing college golf will offer me,” said Prior. “Being given the opportunity to play on the EuroPro Tour recently was a fantastic experience, and to play at my home club with all my friends and family supporting me was amazing,” she continued.
Prior, who plays off plus three, faced probably the biggest test of her golfing career at the Ladies British Amateur Championship in Northern Ireland at the beginning of June. Competing against arguably one of the strongest fields in women’s amateur golf, she held her own to make the cut in the stroke play portion of the event, only to narrowly lose out in the second round of matchplay.
Mike O’Connell, acting general manager at Burhill, commented: “We are extremely proud of Lizzie and everything she has achieved up until this point. She is a great ambassador for junior golf here at Burhill, and it speaks volumes about the commitment that the entire membership here has shown towards junior golf as whole.”