Lottery Funding helps talented golfers tee off
Tuesday 15 February 2000
Seventeen talented young golfers hoping to follow in the footsteps of Open Champion Paul Lawrie took one step in the right direction today with the announcement that they are to receive Lottery support from sportscotland.
The awards, totalling over £74,000, are to be made through the Talented Athlete Programme and are part of a £180,000 package of funding for top level sport announced today. Also included are awards to canoeing, tennis, archery and swimming.
Since the first awards were made in April 1997 over £6m has been awarded under the programme, and successful results are already being seen in athletes such as World Judo Champion Graeme Randall, up-and-coming young tennis player Alan Mackin, and Hammy Macmillan’s Curling Team, current World and European Champions.
Among the talented young golfers hoping to become the household names of the future are members of the 1999 Walker Cup winning team Lorne Kelly and David Patrick, and 1999 Scottish Amateur Champion Craig Heap.
Top women's golfers Anne Laing, Lesley Nicholson and Hilary Monaghan will use their awards to help them prepare for success in the forthcoming Curtis Cup.
The athletes hope that their awards will help them to achieve even greater success and in some cases even turn professional. The awards will help to pay for sports costs such as equipment, coaching and competition fees as well as sports science and sports medicine support. Athletes who show particular promise can also receive a subsistence award, designed to cover the costs of taking time off work in order to give full-time commitment to their sport.
Alastair Dempster, Chairman of sportscotland, said: "The Talented Athlete Programme provides support both to individuals across a range of sports including archery and athletics and also to national teams in sports such as women’s football and volleyball, all of whom are demonstrating the potential for success that exists in Scotland.
"These latest awards to aspiring young golfing stars will help to improve the level of success being achieved by Scottish athletes both at national and at international level, helping to raise the profile of the sport and encouraging greater participation.
"I hope that this success will continue to grow and that these athletes will convince more young people that getting more active, more often can be a valuable and rewarding experience."