Woad shares ANWA lead heading to Augusta finale
England's defending champion Lottie Woad holds a share of the lead going into the final round of the Augusta National Women's Amateur in Georgia.The 21-year-old, who is the world number one amateur, is trying to become the first player to win successive titles in the sixth staging of the prestigious event, which has the third round at Augusta National, home of the Masters.Woad had three birdies and a bogey in a solid two-under-par 70 in the second round at the Champions Retreat course.That improved her overall score to nine under par, and left her joint top with American Kiara Romero at the end of the day.Overnight leader Megha Ganne is in a three-way tie for second place on eight under after she shot a 73 to follow a 63 in the opening round.
Among the group one shot further back is rising American star Asterisk Talley. The 16-year-old, who beat Woad in last year's Curtis Cup singles, shot a six-under 66.The tournament moves to Augusta National, home of the Masters, for the third and final round, which will be played on Saturday after a practice day on Friday.However, England's Patience Rhodes, Scotland's Hannah Darling and Ireland's Beth Coulter will not be playing, having missed the cut. Rhodes finished on four over and Darling three over after they both shot 72s, while Coulter's 77 left her on five over.Also missing the final round is last year's runner-up Bailey Shoemaker and Malaysia's Mirabel Ting, who is top of the American NCAA collegiate standings after winning six events in the past year.Woad birdied three of the final four holes to beat American Shoemaker by one shot for the 2024 title.That victory kick-started a stellar year which saw her compete in her first majors, finish as the top Briton at the Women's Open, help Great Britain and Ireland win the Curtis Cup and end it as the world's top-ranked amateur.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Rhyl Journal
32 minutes ago
- Rhyl Journal
Wales schools to compete in NFL Flag UK Championships
Ysgol Gwynedd in Flint and Prestatyn High School will represent Wales at the UK NFL Flag 2025 National Championships in Leeds on Tuesday, June 17. The schools secured their places by winning their age categories at the Welsh NFL Flag National Championships, held on May 6 at Cardiff Metropolitan High School one the 15U Girls' tournament (Image: NFL) Ysgol Gwynedd triumphed in the 11U Mixed division, while Prestatyn High School won the 15U Girls' tournament. Dr Chris Long, NFL head of youth football and grassroots development, said: "Thank you to all the schools from across Wales who have competed in this year's championship, and its preceding qualifiers. "We are so pleased to see more and more people of all ages playing NFL Flag, some coming back year after year and developing their game, some getting their first taste of American football. "We look forward to welcoming all our champion teams in Leeds later this month." A record 480 schools entered this year's UK competition, with 28 teams now set to compete for national Flag Wales National Championships at Cardiff Metropolitan University (Image: NFL) Among them are Mary Immaculate High School, who took the 13U Mixed title alongside Ysgol Gwynedd and Prestatyn High School as Wales' three national champions. NFL Flag is the league's official non-contact football programme and has rapidly gained popularity in the UK since launching in 2017. More than 120,000 people now play across 1,000 schools. Flag football is set to debut at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. It is played by more than 20 million people in over 100 countries. The sport is non-contact, fast-paced, and emphasises inclusivity—making it accessible to players of all ages and abilities. Female participation is especially strong, with the 15U Girls category among the fastest-growing divisions. The International Federation of American Football and the NFL continue to invest in the sport's development from grassroots to elite levels. The format's growing popularity reflects a global rise in interest, driven by its simplicity and emphasis on teamwork, strategy, and athleticism. With their recent victories, Ysgol Gwynedd and Prestatyn High School have already demonstrated that Welsh schools are competitive on a national level. Their achievements have also helped raise the profile of the sport in North Wales, encouraging more young people to get involved. For more information about the NFL Flag programme or how to participate, visit
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Judge paves the way for college athletes to earn millions
A federal judge has paved the way for college athletes to earn millions after approving a settlement between an Arizona State swimmer and the National Collegiate Athletic Association on Friday. Almost five years ago, Grant House sued the NCAA and its five biggest conferences to lift restrictions on revenue sharing with college athletes. Under the newly approved settlement, each school will now share up to $20.5 million with athletes over the next year and $2.7 billion over the next 10 years to thousands of former athletes who were previously prohibited from collecting revenue, the Associated Press reported. Most of the athletes who will reap the rewards of this suit will be football and basketball players at the biggest sports schools. House said in a CBS Sports article from May 2023 that he was inspired to pursue the lawsuit by Arizona State's music students who could get paid to play at Carnegie Hall. "I always thought it was interesting that … if [those musicians] can monetize this, take it to the farthest reaches, I couldn't because I was an athlete doing my own aspirations and dreams," House said. 'That just didn't sit well with me and confused me a lot,' he added. CBS Sports reported that the NCAA had made claims that compensating athletes would cause issues in the locker room. "I know there are quarterbacks getting millions of dollars. I'm not getting that. Good for them. I want them to actualize that," House said in response. He continued: 'I can imagine [locker room issues] in maybe some places where younger athletes have egos and haven't developed as much. I blame that on the culture. I don't blame that on NIL [name, image and likeness]. If your culture is that fragile, that weak, you as a university need to fix that.'
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
U.S. judge approves $2.8 billion settlement, paving way for colleges to pay athletes millions
A federal judge signed off on arguably the biggest change in the history of college sports Friday, clearing the way for schools to begin paying their athletes millions of dollars as soon as next month as the multibillion-dollar industry shreds the last vestiges of the amateur model that defined it for more than a century. Nearly five years after Arizona State swimmer Grant House sued the NCAA and its five biggest conferences to lift restrictions on revenue sharing, U.S. Judge Claudia Wilken approved the final proposal that had been hung up on roster limits, just one of many changes ahead amid concerns that thousands of walk-on athletes will lose their chance to play college sports. The sweeping terms of the so-called House settlement include approval for each school to share up to $20.5 million with athletes over the next year and $2.7 billion that will be paid over the next decade to thousands of former players who were barred from that revenue for years. The agreement brings a seismic shift to hundreds of schools that were forced to reckon with the reality that their players are the ones producing the billions in TV and other revenue, mostly through football and basketball, that keep this machine humming. The scope of the changes — some have already begun — is difficult to overstate. The professionalization of college athletics will be seen in the high-stakes and expensive recruitment of stars on their way to the NFL and NBA, and they will be felt by athletes whose schools have decided to pare their programs. The agreement will resonate in nearly every one of the NCAA's 1,100 member schools boasting nearly 500,000 athletes. The road to a settlement Wilken's ruling comes 11 years after she dealt the first significant blow to the NCAA ideal of amateurism when she ruled in favor of former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon and others who were seeking a way to earn money from the use of their name, image and likeness (NIL) — a term that is now as common in college sports as 'March Madness' or 'Roll Tide.' It was just four years ago that the NCAA cleared the way for NIL money to start flowing, but the changes coming are even bigger. Wilken granted preliminary approval to the settlement last October. That sent colleges scurrying to determine not only how they were going to afford the payments, but how to regulate an industry that also allows players to cut deals with third parties so long as they are deemed compliant by a newly formed enforcement group that will be run by auditors at Deloitte. The agreement takes a big chunk of oversight away from the NCAA and puts it in the hands of the four biggest conferences. The ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC hold most of the power and decision-making heft, especially when it comes to the College Football Playoff, which is the most significant financial driver in the industry and is not under the NCAA umbrella like the March Madness tournaments are. Roster limits held things up The deal looked ready to go since last fall, but Wilken put a halt to it after listening to a number of players who had lost their spots because of newly imposed roster limits being placed on teams. The limits were part of a trade-off that allowed the schools to offer scholarships to everyone on the roster, instead of only a fraction, as has been the case for decades. Schools started cutting walk-ons in anticipation of the deal being approved. Wilken asked for a solution and, after weeks, the parties decided to let anyone cut from a roster — now termed a 'Designated Student-Athlete' — return to their old school or play for a new one without counting against the new limit. Wilken ultimately agreed, going point-by-point through the objectors' arguments to explain why they didn't hold up. 'The modifications provide Designated Student-Athletes with what they had prior to the roster limits provisions being implemented, which was the opportunity to be on a roster at the discretion of a Division I school,' Wilken wrote Winners and losers The list of winners and losers is long and, in some cases, hard to tease out. A rough guide of winners would include football and basketball stars at the biggest schools, which will devote much of their bankroll to signing and retaining them. For instance, Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood's NIL deal is reportedly worth between $10.5 million and $12 million. Losers, despite Wilken's ruling, figure to be at least some of the walk-ons and partial scholarship athletes whose spots are gone. Also in limbo are Olympic sports many of those athletes play and that serve as the main pipeline for a U.S. team that has won the most medals at every Olympics since the downfall of the Soviet Union. All this is a price worth paying, according to the attorneys who crafted the settlement and argue they delivered exactly what they were asked for: an attempt to put more money in the pockets of the players whose sweat and toil keep people watching from the start of football season through March Madness and the College World Series in June. What the settlement does not solve is the threat of further litigation. Though this deal brings some uniformity to the rules, states still have separate laws regarding how NIL can be doled out, which could lead to legal challenges. NCAA President Charlie Baker has been consistent in pushing for federal legislation that would put college sports under one rulebook and, if he has his way, provide some form of antitrust protection to prevent the new model from being disrupted again.
