She is a former pupil of Fernhill School and was introduced to golf by her parents.

They moved from Glasgow to Girvan, close to the famous Turnberry golf links where she learned to play and is still a club member.

[1] She represented Great Britain & Ireland in the Curtis Cup matches of 1994[4] and 1996[5][6] and played in the 1996 Espirito Santo Trophy World Amateur Team Championship.

[7] McKay was the first international female player to be offered a golf scholarship at Stanford University in California[8] where she was a classmate of Tiger Woods (she took a Portuguese literature class with him).

[13] She represented Europe in the Solheim Cup in 2002[14][15] and 2003[16][17] and represented Scotland in the 2007 Women's World Cup of Golf where she and her partner Janice Moodie finished fourth.