Lottie Woad fires final-round 68 to claim victory on her professional debut
The 21-year-old former world number one amateur from Surrey finished with a final round score of 68 after four days of competition at Dundonald Links.
It was Woad's first victory since turning professional earlier in July.
She entered the final round with a two-stroke lead and made birdies on the second, third, 13th and 14th before hitting a bogey on the 16th.
Lottie Woad wins the @Womens_Scottish on her professional debut 🏆 #WSO25 pic.twitter.com/paLNLsZDc4
— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) July 27, 2025
Woad made par on the 17th before a pinpoint approach set up a birdie on the 18th to wrap up the title.
She becomes the first player to win on their professional Ladies European Tour debut since Singapore's Shannon Tan at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open in February 2024.
Woad said on Sky Sports: 'It's a pretty good outcome, I guess! Definitely wasn't expecting to win my first event, but I knew I was playing well so I was kind of hoping to contend.
'I played really solid today. It was pretty nice in the end, could lay up on the par five.
'Links golf is really fun, don't get to play it too often. This is my first time playing links golf since the Open last year. I wasn't exactly sure how it would go, but it went fine!'
Woad finished three shots ahead of second-placed Kim Hyo-joo, who fired seven birdies and three bogeys in a mixed fourth round.
Julia Lopez Ramirez and Kim Sei-young shared third on 14 under, with world number one Nelly Korda a shot back in fifth.
English duo Alice Hewson and Charley Hull finished tied for 10th and 21st, respectively.
Attention now turns to the AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl, which begins on Thursday.
Looking ahead to that tournament, Woad added: 'Even if I hadn't won this week, I'd still be trying to win it and just trying to be up there really is all you can ask for going into the final day.'
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The Herald Scotland
a minute ago
- The Herald Scotland
Lydia Ko set for defence of her AIG Women's Open title
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BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Woad the focus as Women's Open heads to Wales
The AIG Women's Open begins at Royal Porthcawl on Thursday with much of the pre-tournament focus on Lottie Zealand's Lydia Ko is the defending champion heading into the final golf major of the the build-up has been dominated by talk of Woad, who has emerged as British golf's most exciting the 21-year-old is the bookmakers' favourite to claim her first major victory - despite the fact this is just the second event of her professional if she is to triumph, England's Woad must see off the finest players in the women's 49th Women's Open, which runs until Sunday, 3 August, is the first men's or women's major staged in has been billed as the biggest women's sporting event staged in the country - thanks to a combination of the tournament's status, its reach and the quality of the will be live BBC radio commentary and text coverage of all four days of the tournament, as well as reaction and analysis on the BBC Sport website and mobile app. Woad to spearhead home challenge? Woad's status as favourite is the result of a spectacular run of form which began with a resounding victory in the Irish Open - when she was still an amateur - in early then finished just a shot outside the play-off at the Evian Championship, missing out on £400,000 in prize money at the fourth women's major of the year because of her amateur status, before turning professional and winning on debut at last week's Scottish Woad, from Surrey, claim victory once more this weekend, she would be the first British woman since Georgia Hall in 2018 to win a major and only the second since Catriona Matthew 16 years Hull, another of the home contenders this week, describes Woad's recent progress as "absolutely unbelievable"."I played with her in the practice rounds in Ireland and I played with her in the first two rounds last week, and at the minute I feel like she's playing with such confidence she can't miss a shot," Hull said."I think it's great to see. She's a breath of fresh air for the game."Hull, who at 20th is the highest-placed Briton in golf's world rankings, has long been regarded as England's best hope of major success. Hull's preparations for the 60th major of her career have been far from ideal, with the 29-year-old forced to withdraw from the Evian Championship after collapsing on the said she lost four kilograms in the past three weeks because of illness - and that she has also been hampered by a back she is now feeling better, Hull says the ailments have had an impact on her swing."I'm not hitting it the best coming into this week, which is very frustrating because it's an event I've been looking forward to playing all year," she said."I've just got to go out there with what I've got. I'm not going to let it beat me up too much."There are two Welsh players in the field, with Porthcawl member Darcey Harry playing in her first Women's Open - with boyfriend and professional golfer Jacob Skov Olesen as her caddie - having made a promising start to life on the Ladies European Tour this Hall, a former Porthcawl club champion, is the second local in the 144-player field having come through final qualifying earlier this week. Who are the leading contenders? Aside from Woad, world number one Nelly Korda is among the fancied players despite the fact that she is yet to triumph in two-time major winner finished in a tie for second behind Ko at St Andrews last year - but has brushed off the notion that it might be important to her to add a Women's Open victory to her list of global successes."I feel like I don't really have anything more to prove to people ever," the 27-year-old American said."For me it's just I'm passionate about the game. I love playing in these kind of conditions, testing my game, and getting to play against the best players in the world."Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul, the world number two who is in impressive form, is another of the favourites this week along with Australia's Minjee Lee, winner of the Women's PGA Championship - the third major success of her career - last year's other major winners, Mao Saigo of Japan, Sweden's Maja Stark and Grace Kim from Australia, are also competing on the south Wales coastline. Royal Porthcawl's chance to shine Celtic Manor hosted the Ryder Cup in 2010, but this will be the grandest individual golf tournament played in Porthcawl has hosted the Amateur Championship seven times, the Curtis Cup in 1964 and the Walker Cup in 1995, when a United States team including Tiger Woods were beaten by Great Britain and Northern Welsh links was also the stage for the Senior Open in 2014, 2017 and most recently in 2023, when Alex Cejka beat Padraig Harrington in a play-off after both players had finished at five-over-par in a tournament played in, at times, brutal weather forecast looks much better for this week, though there should be enough wind to make it a factor on the only course in Wales where there is a sea view from every hole."The views from the golf course are absolutely breathtaking," Korda said."But you can definitely tell that when the wind kind of picks up here, it's going to be a really, really hard test." Like many others in the field, Ko has spent the early part of the week trying to familiarise herself with a course that few know is even a change for the members watching on, as the regular 18th hole is being played as the first - with the usual first becoming the second, and so on - due to the logistics and infrastructure involved in hosting a major."There's not many people in the field that have played here before, so it's like a clean slate and nobody really has an advantage," Ko said."Regardless of whether you're the defending champion or you qualified through the qualifier, I think it's going to be a really tough week."
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Golf's elite hail Lottie Woad as ‘breath of fresh air' before Open challenge
History suggests caution is advisable when assessing female golf phenoms. Michelle Wie won just a single major. Charley Hull has reached the age of 29 while scaling golfing heights, but it is fair to say wild excitement about her career when a teenage amateur has not been borne out by subsequent results. For a multitude of reasons, promise can outweigh reality. If it were at all her style – and it is not – Lottie Woad could claim to have already justified the hype. Winning last year's Augusta National Women's Amateur was a statement of intent. Recent weeks have been rocket fuelled for the 21-year-old; Woad won the Irish Open and challenged for the Evian Championship while still an amateur. One professional start, at the Scottish Open, saw Woad lift the trophy on Sunday. She is the name on everyone's lips as the Women's Open lands at the glorious links of Royal Porthcawl this weekend. 'She's playing great golf,' said Lydia Ko, the defending champion, of Woad. 'I've seen her swing. My coach has sent me a video of her swing as well because there's aspects that I'm kind of going for that she has.' High praise. There was more, lots of it. 'I think what Lottie Woad has done is absolutely unbelievable,' said Hull. 'I played with her in the practice rounds in Ireland and in the first two rounds last week. At the minute I feel like she's playing with such confidence she can't miss a shot. I think it's great to see. She's a breath of fresh air for the game. I'm actually really proud of Lottie for what she's done. That's like goosebumps kind of stuff.' Hull's own buildup has been beset by illness and a back injury. 'I'm not hitting it the best, which is very frustrating because it's an event I've been looking forward to playing all year,' she said. Woad will have Ko and Lilia Vu for company in the marquee grouping for days one and two. 'I don't feel too different, to be honest,' Woad said. 'I got a lot of confidence from the last month, really. I am just trying to continue to ride that. There's always pressure. I don't think there's any more than there was, like from my perspective, before any of the last few weeks. I was still wanting to contend and that's still the aim.' Like Scottie Scheffler, who is dominating the male game, Woad will not talk in headlines. Like the American, Woad's swing can be unorthodox. She has something in common with another icon of this sport; Woad is managed by the same agency as Tiger Woods. Woad serves as the latest example of how the American college circuit prepares golfers for life as a professional. The Surrey athlete excelled at Florida State University amid a rise to the summit of the amateur world ranking. 'She's been in a lot of those kind of tougher moments,' Ko added. 'Obviously it's different than being an amateur and playing collegiate golf to as a pro, but I think she's been there and done really well in those pressure conditions no matter what kind of environment she's been in. So I think there's a little bit more experience under her belt than what people probably give her credit for. 'When I've seen the coverage or how she composes herself, she doesn't seem like she rushes into things or gets like overly emotional. I'm sure that's going to help her with that transition as well.' Ko's analysis is valid. Woad's greatest strength is appearing totally unflustered when placed in tricky golfing scenarios. Her display of front-running at Dundonald Links on Sunday made a mockery of supposed rookie status. In Ireland, she won by half a dozen shots. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion 'Absolutely amazing,' said the world No 1, Nelly Korda, in adding to the chorus of commendation for Woad. 'I was very impressed with her composure, her process [in Scotland]. When it comes to her shot routine, especially under pressure and in the heat of the moment, sometimes people seem to fidget and kind of doubt themselves but she stuck to it, she stuck to her process every single time. I think one of the main things that I noticed is how mature she is for her age and how comfortable she was in the heat of the moment. 'You can see that she's put a ton of hours in. Her putting is very solid, her game's solid, she hits it pretty far off the tee. She grew up in this kind of weather too, so I feel like she's kind of comfortable.' It would seem a shock if Woad is not in Porthcawl contention. The R&A has increased the prize fund for this major, by $250,000 to $9.75m, with the winner collecting $1.4m. The male equivalent had its purse frozen for 2025. The scale of growth in the Women's Open is shown by the fact golfers were competing for $3.25m as recently as 2018. It was confirmed on Wednesday that the 2027 edition of the tournament will take place at Royal St George's, which has staged the men's Open 15 times. A rare stop for elite golf in Wales has seen players assess the local culture. 'When I drove from Scotland after I missed the cut last week, I saw all the road signs,' said Grace Kim. 'It went from like English to, not in a rude way, like gibberish.' Ouch.
