Megan Clyne with the Deeside Golf Club women's championship trophy she won this year.

Paul Lawrie girls' champion Megan Clyne

to join Montevallo Univesity in Alabama

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Former Open champion Paul Lawrie's name can still open doors - even thousands of miles away in the southern United States state of Alabama.
Megan Clyne, 17-year-old women's champion at Deeside Golf Club, is the latest Scottish teenage prospect to sign up for an American college, following hot on the heels of the news earlier this week that Scottish boys' match-play champion Grant Forrest (Craigielaw) had committed himself to San Diego University, California.
Megan has been accepted as a golf scholarship student at the University of Montevallo in Alabama and I would put my shirt on the fact that she has won the Paul Lawrie girls' match-play championship for the past two years as the clinching item on her golfing CV when it was reviewed across the Atlantic.
“I am hoping to be there for four years, studying either geography, history or criminology,” said five-handicapper Megan who has been nine times to America in the past but only to Florida which shares a border with Alabama in the sunny south - no snow there, even in the winter.
Montevallo is a university town - billed as the "small town that every American would like to call home" - with a population of around 5,000, of whom 3,000 are students. The nearest big city is Birmingham, Alabama, 35 miles away to the north of Montevallo which apparently has facilities out of proportion to its size. “I am very excited already at the prospect of heading away to Alabama next August. It’s a great opportunity for both my golf and my studies. It will be both exciting yet scary but I am optimistic about the future," added Megan. 
The Montevallo University women’s golf team compete at NCAA Division II level and has nine girls on its 2010-11 roster, including Emma Breen from Swindon and Heather Mutton from Dunstable. The head golf coach is Justin Pratt.
Paul Lawrie commented last night: “Megan has had a fantastic year. Everyone from the Paul Lawrie Foundation wishes her well in America. I’m sure she will do very well and come back an even better player.”
Deeside Golf Club director of golf Frank Coutts said: “I was fortunate enough to have Megan work part-time in the pro shop for just over a year when her bubbly personality added warmth and happiness on a busy Saturday morning. She was extremely enthusiastic, keen to learn, but, more importantly, very good with the customers.
“I wish her all the best in Alabama where I know her playing ability will not be questioned as she is a fine player. I look forward to hearing of her success.”
+There are two young North-east golfers already at college in America - Louise McGillivray (Banchory) at Carson-Newman University, Tennessee, and Ross Milne (Aboyne) at Dodge City College, Kansas.

+If you or a member of your family has signed up to go to an American university on a golf scholarship next year, you can share the news with us. E-mail the information to Colin@scottishgolfview.com

*If you are wondering how Megan Clyne and Montevallo University were brought together, wonder no more. "Dave Nelson, director of University Placement USA is the man who set it up for me," says Megan.
To find out more about University Placement USA
CLICK HERE