CURTIS CUP SELECTION WOULD CAP A GREAT YEAR

      Gemma Dryburgh (right) with Sue Bower. 

GEMMA DRYBURGH A STAR ON AND

OFF COURSE FOR TULANE UNIVERSITY 

Aberdeen-born student golfer Gemma Dryburgh has won 
the Sue Bower Award at Tulane University, New 

Orleans.

The Sue Bower Award is given annually to the Tulane 

women's golfer who exemplifies dedication to the game

of golf and academic excellence. 

This student-athlete shows exceptional leadership

and a strong commitment to community service.
It is the second year in a row that Gemma has won

the Sue Bower Award.

The award was originally given to Sue Bowyer,  the 
former Tulane University women's golf coach who stuck

 with Tulane  during the long clean-up after New 

Orleans was extensively damaged by Hurricane Katrina

several years ago. Sue was instrumental in ensuring

the women's golf programme was reinstated to the 

highest level when she became Tulane University's 

assistant athletics director during the post-Katrina

period.  

A further boost for Dryburgh this week has been her

naming in the All-Conference USA first team for the

first time.

Gemma's father John, a North Sea Oil company executive,

commented: 

"My wife Marjory, myself and our family are very proud of Gemma, not just because of her achievements on the golf course, but because of the way she holds herself and pulls for those around her."

A week ago, Tulane captured its sixth league title with a 10-stroke
 win over their nearest rivals.. 

Dryburgh is three-time performer on the All Conference-USA teams, but is a newcomer to the all-league first team after receiving second-team honours a year ago and third team accolades as freshman in 2012.  
The native of Scotland, who finished second in the British women's open amateur stroke-play championship at Prestwick last August,  has been one of the team’s most consistent performers since she arrived on the Tulane campus.
  Dryburgh has played 24 rounds in nine tournaments during the 2013-2014 US college golf
 season and ranks second on the team with a 73.33 scoring average.  Her rounds have counted toward the team total on 21 occasions and she owns eight rounds of par or better, including a season-low 4-under 68 during the opening round of the Conference-USA Championship.

Dryburgh has three top-10 finishes this season, including a runner-up effort at the conference championships.
She also represented Scotland at the prestigious Spirit International in Texas last autumn.

Tulane will make its 11^th NCAA Regional appearance next week when the team heads to the NCAA East Regional, May 8-10 at the Southwood Golf Club in Tallahassee, Florida.
+There is a good chance that Gemma will be named in the GB and I team of eight for the Curtis
Cup defence against the United States at St Louis,
Missouri from June 6 to 8. She is a leading contender for one of the two wild-card picks by the
Ladies Golf Union International Selection Panel.
Only two Aberdeen-born players have played in Curtis Cup matches - Muriel Thomson (Murcar), now the professional at Portlethen in 1988, and Elaine Farquharson (Deeside), now a solicitor, in 1990 and 1992.