Top-ranked amateur Lottie Woad turning professional after securing LPGA membership
LONDON — Top-ranked amateur Lottie Woad announced Tuesday she will turn professional, two days after nearly winning a major title.
The 21-year-old Englishwoman followed her victory by six shots at the Women's Irish Open on the Ladies European Tour on July 6 by finishing in third place — just one stroke off the pace — at the Amundi Evian Championship on Sunday.
She didn't win any prize money at either tournament because she was amateur.
However, her good finish at the Evian secured enough points to seal LPGA Tour membership through its Elite Amateur Pathway. It means she is ending her college career at Florida State University with one year left.
'I am very excited to announce that I have decided to turn professional,' she wrote on social media . ' I'm delighted to have secured a(n) LPGA card through the LEAP.
'I'm also happy to accept membership of the Ladies European Tour for 2026. Thank you to everyone who has helped me get to this position.'
Woad is set to make her first start as a pro at the Women's Scottish Open next week.
The AIG Women's Open, the final major of the year, is at Royal Porthcawl starting July 30.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


USA Today
12 hours ago
- USA Today
Lauren Coughlin on the 'fight and claw' to get to LPGA and Scottie Scheffler's inspiration
As young Lottie Woad makes her pro debut at this week's ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open, veteran Lauren Coughlin experiences a first of her own. Coughlin, 32, will defend an LPGA title for the first time this week at Dundonald Links. Needless to say, Coughlin's route to the LPGA was a bit bumpier than Woad's. A walk-on at Virginia who played in regional events growing up, Coughlin dropped down to the Epson Tour after losing her LPGA card early on and took the long route to the winner's circle – finally hoisting a trophy after 103 LPGA starts. "I think it's just a little bit different," said Coughlin the late-bloomer of her road to success on the LPGA. "Like I've had to kind of fight and claw to get here. And so not to say that Lottie has not had to fight and claw but in just kind of a little bit different kind of – she's fighting and clawing to win, whereas I was fighting and clawing to get status and keep status and things like that." Coughlin's win last year at Dundonald Links was her second in three starts, and she went into her first Solheim Cup as one of America's top players. She has cooled a bit since then, however, missing four cuts in her last five starts, including the recent Amundi Evian Championship. In April, she had two top-3 finishes. When asked what's changed, Coughlin said she was having more fun last year. "I feel like Evian, I was playing a lot better starting at Evian," said Coughlin, "and I just couldn't get the ball to go in the hole. But other than that, yeah, I feel like I'm just trying to get back to that, being a lot more relaxed and not trying so hard and want to do so well that sometimes you can tighten up." The LPGA was off last week while the men's British Open took place at Royal Portrush. Coughlin spent the week with friend Maja Stark in her small Swedish village, but managed to catch some of what Scheffler was doing and saying in Northern Ireland. "I think his perspective is very unique," said Coughlin, "and I feel like something that we should aspire to. You know, just the whole gratitude and his worth isn't defined by him as a golfer. It's defined by him as a husband and a father, and it's definitely, like, very aspirational to be like, yeah, I want to be a good wife and hopefully a good friend and hopefully a good mom some day, and to not be so into, like, your identity as a golfer. That's really hard, and it's definitely something I struggle with at times. "It's something that we care so much about and we want to do so well. But hearing him say some of those things, you can kind of learn some things from him."


NBC Sports
14 hours ago
- NBC Sports
Paul Azinger honored by Payne Stewart Award, reflects on Ryder Cup bond
Kim relives Amundi Evian win, Aussie support Grace Kim joins Golf Today to talk about her Amundi Evian Championship and ranks the best moments from the thrilling win. She also talks about the support from fellow Australians and what it means to be a major champion.


USA Today
14 hours ago
- USA Today
Lottie Woad set to make pro debut at Scottish Open grouped with Nelly Korda, Charley Hull
Lottie Woad will make her pro debut this week alongside two of the biggest stars in the women's game – Nelly Korda and Charley Hull. The former top-ranked amateur turned professional last week after becoming the first to graduate from the tour's new LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway (LEAP) program. After finishing one stroke shy of the playoff at the Amundi Evian Championship, England's Woad makes her first appearance at this week's ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open and will tee off on Thursday at 8:36 a.m. local time at Dundonald Links grouped with top-ranked Korda and compatriot Charley Hull, currently No. 19 in the world. "Going to be fun couple of days," said Woad. "Obviously two players that I look up to, so it will be cool." In addition to accepting LPGA membership, Woad also became a member of the LET following her emphatic six-stroke victory at the KPMG Women's Irish Open. She's now eligible for next year's 2026 European Solheim Cup team. Woad leaves college golf with one year left of eligibility at Florida State. The sport management major was recently named the Atlantic Coast Conference Women's Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year. When asked whether she planned to continue her studies later this year or next spring, Woad said she hasn't yet decided. "I need to speak to academics on that and decide whether I want to do that," she said, "because obviously I want to put a lot of my focus into this." Rose Zhang continues to work on her Stanford degree after turning professional in the spring of 2023. Zhang has 40 units left in Palo Alto, California, and plans to take 20 in the fall and another 20 in the winter quarter, graduating in 2026. She has taken off the spring Asian swing the past two years to work on her studies. After this week's event in Scotland and the AIG Women's British Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales, Woad's status gets her into the next string of domestic events on tour – plus Canada – and she'll make push to get into the fall's limit-field Asian swing.