Latest news with #AIGWomenOpen
BBC News
5 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Sportsworld Lottie Woad: Meet golf's newest rising star
Just a week after turning professional, Lottie Woad is favourite for the final major of the year - the AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl. It is a startling rise for British golf's most exciting prospect. She arrived in Wales having been crowned Scottish Open champion a week earlier This, in the same month she ended her amateur career by winning the Irish Open and finished third at the Evian Championship, the most recent women's major. Photo: Lottie Woad of England poses with the trophy following victory of the ISPS HANDA Women's Scottish Open following the final round of the ISPS HANDA Women's Scottish Open 2025 at Dundonald Links Golf Course on July 27, 2025 in Troon, Scotland. (Credit: Getty Images)
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Final Major of season the perfect stage for Lottie Woad to confirm her arrival as golf's new superstar
Just one major remains this season, with that honour falling to the AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales. It will bookend a year in which one player completed the career Grand Slam – none other than Rory McIlroy . It has also been a season that saw Scottie Scheffler claim two of the men's championships, taking home the Wanamaker Trophy as PGA champion and the Claret Jug for his success in the Open at Portrush . That's the men's side of things, with the world's one and two the dominant figures. The women's season has primarily been a story of breakthroughs, with Mao Saigo (Chevron Championship), Maja Stark (US Open) and Grace Kim (Evian Championship) all winning their first majors. Minjee Lee's success in the KPMG Women's PGA – her third major win – was the only one that went to a multiple champion. There is a strong sense of anticipation about what awaits on the Welsh coast this week. Lottie Woad's seismic arrival on to the women's professional circuit has the feel of a superstar emerging before our eyes. As the long-time world amateur number one, Woad (21) – winner of the Augusta National women's amateur championship last year and a star turn in Britain and Ireland's Curtis Cup win – had been flagged as one to watch. READ MORE However, the English star's win in the KPMG Irish Women's Open at Carton House kicked off the sort of hot form line that only someone like Nelly Korda has managed in recent years on the LPGA Tour. Woad followed that Irish Open win with a third-placed finish in the Evian – a major. That form saw her earn a full LPGA Tour card through the elite pathway route. She brought that momentum to Dundonald Links, where she won the KPMG Scottish Open on her professional debut. Woad is already in the top 25 on the Rolex world rankings. Her swift impact on the professional game has added a new dimension to women's golf. It must be close to certain that Anna Nordqvist will pencil her in for next year's Solheim Cup in the Netherlands. Woad has acquired veteran caddie Dermot Byrne, who previously caddied for Shane Lowry and Leona Maguire . The partnership has been very successful so far and there is a further Irish connection as Novellus, a Dublin finance institution, is one of her main sponsors. Lottie Woad with her caddie Dermot Byrne during the final round of the Women's Scottish Open at Dundonald Links Golf Course last weekend. Photograph:Of her seamless transition from an amateur to tour life, Woad remarked: 'I think just getting experience is great. I played a lot of majors and pro events before [winning in Scotland]. So it wasn't all new, really. I think the more experiences you give yourself, the better.' While she is the new poster girl for women's professional golf and clearly has an exciting journey ahead, there are others who will be looking to find a major breakthrough at Royal Porthcawl. Among them will be three Irish players. Leona Maguire has hit decent form of late, with top-10s in each of the last two majors. She has fond memories of this part of Wales having won her Amateur Championship title at nearby Pyle & Kenfig in 2017. The two other Irish players in the field for the season's final major are Lauren Walsh, who earned her place off the LET current season order of merit, and rookie Anna Foster, who earned her place in the field through final qualifying at Pyle & Kenfig. On the PGA Tour, this week's Wyndham Championship is the final event of the regular season before the leading 60 players move on to the FedEx Cup playoffs (Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are among those guaranteed to progress). However, Séamus Power will need to deliver something special at Wyndham as he is currently 130th in the rankings. That leaves him in a fight to retain full playing privileges, which go the top 100 in the rankings. With no event on the DP World Tour this week, the focus is on the Scottish Challenge at Roxburghe on the HotelPlanner Tour where Max Kennedy, Liam Nolan, Daniel Mulligan, Alex Maguire, Mark Power, Dermot McElroy and Jonathan Caldwell are in the field.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
I'm 100 per cent sure I couldn't make it as a professional golfer
Gareth Bale admitted he was '100 per cent sure' that he could not become a professional golfer. The former Real Madrid and Wales star is well known for his love of golf and has cut his handicap from 'three or four' to just 0.1 since retiring from football in January 2023. That has led to suggestions that Bale – who has played on the PGA Tour at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am where footage of him making a brilliant chip from a cart path went viral – could try and make it as a professional golfer, despite having turned 36 earlier this month. 'I'm fully, 100 per cent sure, I can not make it professionally,' Bale told BBC Wales ahead of this week's AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl. 'When you are in golf and you see professional golfers play, compared to even your best stuff, it is nowhere near. 'When I've played with those players and watched them, you really appreciate how good they actually are. 'Never mind just playing with your friends, they are doing it under the most severe pressure, in tournament conditions, in hard weather. 'So there won't be any professional (golf) for me. 'But I love the game. I love watching it, I love growing it.'
Times
4 days ago
- Sport
- Times
Lottie Woad wins Scottish Open on professional debut
Lottie Woad rounded off the month of her life with a consummate win on her professional debut at the Women's Scottish Open. The 21-year-old's cover as a fantastic prodigy has long been blown and so it was no surprise to see her shedding all challengers as she made her way to the title and the $300,000 (£220,000) prize on Dundonald Links. 'It's a pretty good outcome I guess,' she said in her understated way. 'I definitely wasn't expecting to win my first event. I was just hoping to contend. It was the first time playing links golf since the Open last year so I was not exactly sure how it would go — but it was fine.' Woad was utterly unflustered when her two-stroke overnight lead was whittled away by Kim Hyo-joo, and as the Korean faltered, the woman from Farnham whetted every appetite for this week's AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl. Even when she lost a shot on the 16th, her solitary bogey, she managed the climax with a minimum of fuss. On the final hole, a par five, she played it safe with a lay-up but still made a birdie to give her a round of 68 and a three-stroke victory margin at 21 under par. It has been a remarkable July. She followed up her win at the Women's Irish Open with a third place at the Evian Championship, the fourth major of the year. Her amateur status meant she missed out on what would have been about £450,000 in prize money, and the Florida State star decided to turn professional a week ago. This was some start but she looks immune to the spiralling hype. A smile, handshake and then hug for her parents, Rachel and Nick, ensued. 'My dad has been here all week and mum got the train up last night, so I was hoping I would not mess it up,' she said. Kim, a major winner in 2014, drew level on the back nine and a quality field had been reduced to a duel. But the momentum shifted decisively within the space of a minute when Kim bogeyed the 15th and Woad made a birdie on the 14th. That two-shot swing put her back in charge and one of the most impressive things about what followed was the sense of inevitability rather than any understandable sign of nerves. When Kim made a second successive bogey on the 16th the writing was on the wall and the name was as good as on the trophy. The attention is not new and Woad had already been attracting plenty of plaudits by the time she won the Augusta National Women's Amateur last year. She rose to the top of the amateur rankings and her form this year meant the debate quickly turned to when she would join the LPGA. As has also been the case on the men's circuit, Woad is showing how the US collegiate system is producing players ready to compete and win on the pro tours without an acclimatization period. The publicity and expectation will now intensify ahead of Royal Porthcawl but so far Woad, tenth in last year's Open, has taken everything in her stride. Joining her in Wales will be Spain's Julia Lopez Ramirez, who had the round of the day with a 65 to finish third and book her place in the final major of the year. Nelly Korda, the world No1, had a miserable Sunday with four back-nine bogeys dropping her to fifth place, some eight shots adrift of Woad. Padraig Harrington won his second senior major of the year at Sunningdale when he held off Justin Leonard and Thomas Bjorn to win the Senior Open by three shots. The Irishman, 53, also won the Senior US Open in Colorado last month.
