PATTERSON Lakes resident Joyce Lindores beat the world's best to win the women's section of the 2010 Australian Open bowls championship at Shepparton.

The biggest annual event in the southern hemisphere with a total prizemoney of $125,000, it attracted all the world's top men and women bowlers.

Lindores, a very youthful and feisty 65 recently arrived from Scotland, picked up her first prize cheque of $18,000 and trophy when she defeated top-rated Australian Julie Keegan of Queensland in the final in straight sets. In the semi, she beat world No.1 Lina Ahmad of Malaysia in straight sets.

More than 1100 players competed in qualifying events around Australia for the 64 starting places in the women's main draw. The entries were double in the men's championship, with 128 players making it to the final at Shepparton.

Lindores will now be Australia's representative in the world championships at Norfolk Island in November.

After her victory she was asked how she felt and replied "I'm proud to win it for Victoria". No Victorian had ever won the Australian championship.

Playing on the world stage is no novelty for Lindores.

For the past 17 years she has been in the world's top five.

She had represented Scotland continuously for 20 years, playing in more than 900 international indoor and outdoor matches between 1987 and 2006.

In 2005, Lindores was inducted into the Scottish Sporting Hall of Fame.

When she came to Melbourne in 2005 to train for the Commonwealth Games as a member of the Great Britain women's pairs team - in which she won a silver medal - Lindores fell in love with Melbourne and decided to settle at Patterson Lakes, where she lives with her partner David Allen, editor of Bowls in Focus magazine.

Lindores may have been considering retiring from the game a few years ago, but she has a new zest for the sport.