Lottie Woad, a former Florida State star, wins the Women's Scottish Open in her pro debut

San Francisco Chronicle​

4 days ago

IRVINE, Scotland (AP) — Lottie Woad tapped in one final birdie, plucked the ball out of the cup and gave a simple wave to the crowd as if she had done this before. The English star made it look easy Sunday when she won the Women's Scottish Open in her professional debut.
Woad never flinched when Hyo Joo Kim made a charge on a windy day at Dundonald Links, closing with a 4-under 68 for a three-shot victory.
Woad is the second player in three years to win on the LPGA Tour in her pro debut, following Rose Zhang in the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National in 2023.
Woad finished at 21-year 267 and earned $300,000.
'I think it's quite hard to do that, but very special to win in my first event,' Woad said. 'Everyone was chasing me today, and managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots.'
Kim had opened with four birdies in seven holes, and when the South Korean added birdies on the 11th and 12th, she shared the lead with Woad.
Woad was unflappable, making birdie on the 13th and 14th holes to regain control and dropping only one shot late in her round. She finished with a three-quarter wedge over a winding burn to 2 feet for birdie and a reserved celebration.
Her victory is certain to get everyone's attention in women's golf. Woad was the No. 1 amateur in the women's ranking when she won the Women's Irish Open on the Ladies European Tour three weeks ago. Then, she finished one shot out of a playoff in the Evian Championship in France, an LPGA major.
That gave her enough points for an LPGA card, so the 21-year-old decided to forgo her final year at Florida State and turn pro. Now she has an LPGA title — the Women's Scottish Open is co-sanctioned with the LET — as she heads south for Royal Porthcawl in Wales for the final major of the year in the Women's British Open.
Nelly Korda, who played the opening three rounds with Woad, ran off four straight birdies on the front nine until missing some putts that stalled her momentum. She shot 71 and finished eight shots behind, leaving the American winless this year after a seven-win season in 2024.
Julia Lopez Ramirez closed with a 65 and tied for third with Sei Young Kim (73), earning the Spaniard one of three spots available in the Women's British Open next week. The other spots went to Paula Reto of South Africa and Mary Liu of China.
Woad first made a name for herself when she won the Augusta National Women's Amateur last year with birdies on three of the last four holes. She said that was more pressure than she felt in her pro debut.
'I think Augusta, that was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win,' Woad said. 'So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this.'
The only difference this week was getting paid for it. Along with winning the Women's Irish Open, Woad tied for 31st in the U.S. Women's Open this year and tied for 10th in the Women's British Open at St. Andrews last summer.
She heads to Wales hopeful of keeping the momentum.
'It's been pretty good, yeah. I don't really know how to describe it,' Woad said. 'Just been shooting low scores, which is always nice.'
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