Briggs and Dryburgh in Curtis Cup team

TWO Scots – Eilidh Briggs and Gemma Dryburgh – have been included in the eight-strong Great Britain & Ireland team to defend the Curtis Cup in St Louis at the beginning of next month.

Two Scots have made the Curtis Cup team

Three years after meeting in the final of the Scottish Girls’ Championship – Briggs triumphed in that – the pair have earned the ultimate honour in the women’s amateur game.

Briggs, a 21-year-old from Kilmacolm in Renfrewshire, who has used a stint studying PE at Stirling University to enhance her game, secured her spot off the Ladies Golf Union Order of Merit. It followed her landing a timely win in the Welsh Women’s Open Stroke-Play Championship at Prestatyn last weekend.

“It was a bit of an anxious wait but I felt that by winning the Welsh on Sunday I’d hopefully done enough to make it,” said Briggs, whose older sister, Megan, is a former Scottish Women’s champion.

“I felt as though I’d let myself down a bit in the Helen Holm at Troon the previous weekend so went down to Prestatyn with something to prove.

“I’ve never wanted to turn professional. All I’ve ever wanted was to play for GB&I in the Curtis Cup, so I’m delighted.

“I’ve got to finish uni in the next couple of weeks and have a couple of assignments to do for my PE teaching degree, then it will be all eyes on preparing for the Curtis Cup.”

Dryburgh, a 20-year-old, was born in Aberdeen but has lived in England for more than a decade. A member of Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, she finished runner-up in last year’s British Stroke-Play Championship at Prestwick. That, coupled with some eye-catching performances for Tulane University in New Orleans, helped her secure one of two wild-card selections for the match in Missouri on 6-8 June.

“It’s fantastic that there are two Scots in the team as there were none in the last Vagliano Trophy side and some people were saying they didn’t think there would be any this time either,” added Briggs. “It’s great for Scottish golf.”

The pair are among six GB&I newcomers for the event’s 38th staging.

GB&I team

Eilidh Briggs (Kilmacolm), age 21

Gabriella Cowley (Hanbury Manor), 18

Annabel Dimmock (Wentworth), 17

Gemma Dryburgh (Beaconsfield), 20

Georgia Hall (Remedy Oak), 18

Bronte Law (Bramhall), 19

Stephanie Meadow (Royal Portrush), 22

Charlotte Thomas (Singapore), 21

Team captain: Tegwen Matthews (Wenvoe Castle)

Team manager: Anna Hubbard (Borth & Ynyslas)