By Staff
YOUNG PHENOM Lamar School's Leigh Phillips works on her golf game. Phillips recently won the Southern Gulf States Junior PGA event. Photo by Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
Dec. 12, 2002
Leigh Phillips recently added to her growing golf resume when she won the overall championship in the 2002 Gulf States PGA Junior Tour Thanksgiving Classic at Beau Pre' Country Club in Natchez.
Phillips, a sophomore at Lamar School, shot a 78-81-159 in the 36-hole event.
Phillips, who will turn 16 in mid-February, has had a good year on the links. She played in the 2002 women's state amateur, qualifying for the championship flight of 16. She lost to Sheila Haynes and Sammye Johnson in match play, but both of them eventually gave former professional Cissye Gallagher a run for her money before losing.
Phillips placed third in the Mississippi Women's Golf Association Junior Girls State Amateur at Briarwood Country Club in late June with a 79-73-152.
Phillips won the girls' division in the MJGA at Briarwood. She was the junior medalist in the Southern Amateur at Montgomery, Ala.
She was one of three junior golfers to make Mississippi's team in the Southeastern Women's Amateur Team Championship at West Palm Beach, Fla., in October.
The spring of 2003 will be Phillips' fifth on Lamar's golf team. The Raiders won the Academy Class AAA state championship last year and have everybody back.
Phillips also plays basketball on the Lamar girls' team.