Lesley Atkins (Gullane Ladies) with the Scottish girls' championship trophy

Lesley Atkins is a sporting all-rounder of

international class

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Hawick’s Lesley Atkins, the new Scottish Under-18 girls’ match-play golf champion at the age of 15, is a sporting all-rounder of an above-average standard.

As an Under-10 tennis competitor she won several competitions around Scotland and represented the South of Scotland before “retiring” from tennis at a very early age.
She has been capped for Scotland regularly at table tennis and held the Scottish Under-15 girls’ and the Scottish schools’ Under-16 girls’ titles. In addition, she is a strong, competitive swimmer. She was the Teviot Turbos Swimming Club age group champion and a finalist at the Scottish schools swimming championships.
At golf, only a few months after taking up the game, she won the UK Wee Wonders’ age group title at the age of eight, which led to a trip to the United States . More recently she won the Scottish Under-14 girls’ championship.
She is golf scholarship student at Loretto School , Musselburgh and may go to a United States university when she is old enough.
In Saturday’s Scottish girls golf championship final at Eyemouth, Lesley, a junior member of Gullane Ladies Golf Club and the No 7 seed in the tournament, beat the 25th qualifier, Kate McIntosh (Broomieknowe) by 5 and 4.
The high winds of earlier in the week had subsided and Lesley, the youngest ever Borders women's county champion when she was a member at Minto Golf Club, was level par for the 14 holes played.
Kate, who had beaten the eighth, ninth, first and fourth seeds to reach the final, was roughly four over par at the finish.
Next year’s Scottish girls’ championship will be played at Glenisla Golf Club, Alyth from July 12 to 16.

RECAP ON THE LATER ROUNDS AT EYEMOUTH
Quarter-finals
Kate McIntosh (Broomieknowe) bt Rachael Watton (Mortonhall) 3 and 1.
Gemma Dryburgh (IMG Golf Academy) bt Rachel Polson (Peterculter) 4 and 2.
Gabrielle MacDonald (Craigielaw) bt Hannah McCook (Abernethy) 3 and 2.
Lesley Atkins (Gullane Ladies) bt Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm) 5 and 3.
Semi-finals
McIntosh bt Dryburgh 6 and 5.
Atkins bt MacDonald 2 and 1.
Final (18 holes)
Atkins bt McIntosh 5 and 4.