A Dumbarton golf star is set to embark on her biggest challenge yet.

Lorna McClymont, 24, will compete in Morocco later this month against the best amateur players in the world for a place on the 2025 Ladies European Tour [LET].

The University of Stirling graduate is among more than 250 entrants to the Lalla Aicha Qualifying School [Q-School] in Marrakesh, which will see the top 20 golfers rewarded with a professional tour card.

Lorna already has Scottish, Irish and Welsh amateur titles to her name, and earlier this year played a key part in helping Great Britain and Ireland lift the prestigious Curtis Cup.

She also turned heads with a brilliant performance at the 121st Women’s Amateur Championship – where she marginally lost to American Melanie Green in the final of the historic competition, regarded as the pinnacle of the women’s amateur game.

Lorna opened up about her excitement at the opportunity.

 

She said: "I feel ready now – now that I’ve finished my degree, and I have those experiences of the past four years under my belt.

"At Stirling, I’ve learned to be in competition environments, to lead tournaments and, most importantly, I’ve learned to win.

“I am going to Q-School and preparing as best I can, trusting the practice I’ve put in.

"If I could qualify, it would just top everything.

"It is something that everyone wants and would make life easier because it lets you just focus on golf for the next year.”

Lorna, started golfing at a young age with coach Colin Fisher at the then World of Golf in Clydebank.

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She also who plays out of Milngavie Golf Club, near Glasgow, and is currently coached by the University of Stirling's head of golf Dean Robertson

After leaving Dumbarton Academy, Lorna spent two years on a golf programme at Scotland’s Rural College, completing an HNC and HND.

It was then she faced a difficult decision – whether to pursue her golfing career here in the UK or to consider moving to the United States like many of her peers.

She continued: "Like lots of girls in my position, I was going to go to America on a scholarship.

"There were girls in the Scottish team who were, or had been, part of the Stirling programme – including Hazel MacGarvie, Chloé Goadby, Tara Mactaggart, Hannah McCook and Louise Duncan. 

"They were girls I looked up to, so we thought it would be worth having a chat with Dean.

"I remember in our first meeting, Dean said that if I put in the work, he’d put in double – and that’s always been the case, it’s never changed.”

Lorna admits that the allure of the American system, along with external pressures to follow other talented British golfers to the United States, was intense.

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Her Lorna’s decision to remain in Scotland, rather than train abroad, came into focus during this year’s Curtis Cup, when it was highlighted she was the only golfer, including from the Great Britain and Ireland team, to be based outside of the USA.

She added: “When I was travelling there, I felt quite nervous and a bit out of place, because I wasn’t based in America like the others.

"But as the week went on, and then when I won a point on the last day, it all became real, and it was clear I did belong there.

“It makes me proud to say that you can still do it – win big competitions – without moving to America.

"To show that you can get to the highest level in amateur golf from a base here in Scotland has hopefully opened doors for young girls coming through.

“I’d say my biggest success at Stirling isn’t the tournaments I’ve won but more about the way I have impacted the future for young girls entering golf.

"People say I’ve had a big influence on them, and that means a lot – particularly from those who are there and involved.

"If this is changing perspectives on having to leave the UK to pursue a career in golf, then I feel I’ve done my part.”