England's Lottie Woad taking golf by storm after winning first professional start

Telegraph

5 days ago

In another life, Lottie Woad may very well have been turning out for the Lionesses in their Euro 2025 final on Sunday night. Instead, this remarkable young Englishwoman was making history of her own by winning on her first professional start at the Women's Scottish Open.
It is fair to say that Woad made the correct choice as a highly-rated 12-year-old in the Southampton Academy. This huge Leeds United fan opted for the smaller ball and vowed to achieve huge things. And despite being in the baby steps of her career it is already a case of mission accomplished.
This was no middling event in which she broke her maiden tag at her first attempt (although she was already a winner of a professional tournament). Sanctioned by the LPGA Tour, the tournament at Dundonald featured four of the world's top 10, including No 1 Nelly Korda.
Ostensibly it is used as a links tune-up week for the Women's Open, the season's final major which begins at Royal Porthcawl. But it takes some winning, as it should with a $300,000 (£223,000) winning cheque.
And the fact that Woad looked utterly nerveless in compiling a 21-under total to beat major winner Kim Hyo-joo by three shots, with Korda a further five strokes behind in fifth makes her success that much more fantastical.
However, this was no fluke and definitely would not be classed as such. Three Sundays before she won the Irish Women's Open and the Ladies European Tour as an amateur – defeating English No 1 Charley Hull in the process – and the Sunday after came within a stroke of making the play-off at the Evian Championship and having the chance of becoming the first amateur in 58 years to win a major.
Everything on Woad's CV pointed to her being an overnight success in the paid ranks, not least that she did not rush to join the superstars, first going through the age groups with England Golf and then not breaking this link or leaving her long-time coach, Luke Done, when inevitably crossing the channel to enrol in US college.
Woad, who has only recently finished up at Florida State University, was the world No 1 amateur for more than a year, a period of dominance during which she won the Augusta National Women's Amateur on the hallowed Masters layout in 2024.
It has been clear for a long time that the 21-year-old from Farnham, Surrey could be something special. In April, Karen Stupples, the 2004 Women's Open champion, told Telegraph Sport that ' Lottie is the best golf prospect the UK has produced since Rory McIlroy ' and explained what makes her stand apart.
'Clutch putting is an intangible that separates the great from the good – and she has it,' Stupples said. 'With her temperament and nerve, she'll be very suited to the professional game.'
This was evident at the Ayrshire links where Woad grabbed the lead in the second round courtesy of a 65 and never looked back. Saying that, she was caught by Kim after 12 holes and the atmosphere intensified. No matter, Woad simply birdied the next two holes this time she was not about to squander the advantage.
As accomplished as her putting happens to be, there is no doubt that her approach play is world class and on the 18th she spun in a wedge to a few feet. There was no wild celebration with caddie Dermot Byrne – formerly Shane Lowry's bagman – which was just added evidence that this is where she expects to be.
'I didn't know she'd got back to level and knew it would be quite tight, as I was only a couple under at the turn,' Woad said, following her 68. 'When I had the two birdies early on the back nine I knew I probably had a bit of a lead by then.
'I was just hoping to contend and played really solid today. It was pretty nice in the end, being able to lay up on the par five.I definitely wasn't expecting to win my first event, but knew I was playing well. It [winning] is a pretty good outcome, I guess.'
If Woad was any more laid back she genuinely would have her own reading on the Stimpmeter. She is adamant that it did not bother her that had she been a pro she would have collected almost £400,000 for her heroics at the Irish and Evians. 'I knew that going into those events, so I didn't think about it, no,' she said. 'And honestly, I don't even know how much I've won today. I just know that if I play well then all that will take care of itself.'
And what about Porthcawl where she will now command the spotlight after becoming the first Briton to win on her first start as a pro on the US circuit? 'I'm excited as I don't get to play links too often – this is my first time playing links golf since the AIG Women's Open last year [at St Andrews where she finished tied for 10th],' Woad, who is already in the world's top 30 said. 'I wasn't exactly sure how it would go. But it went fine.'