Lottie Woad wasted no time showing she’s going to be a force to be reckoned with in professional golf.
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, and she wasted no time soaring to the top of the leaderboard Thursday in her debut at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links, signing for a 5-under 67 to share the lead with three others after the morning wave, including Leona Maguire.
Woad, who won the Women’s Irish Open on the Ladies European Tour before a T-3 finish at the Amundi Evian Championship to secure the final points needed to earn an LPGA card through LEAP, reached 6 under through 14 holes before a bogey on the 17th dropped her back a shot. Playing alongside Nelly Korda, she beat the world’s top-ranked player by a shot and fellow playing partner Charley Hull by four.
“I’ll definitely take it,” Woad said. “It was some good, some bad. Overall, pretty fair.”
Woad’s ascension in the golf world hasn’t slowed since she won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last year. She played in four majors last year after earning exemptions, placing T-23 in her first start at the Chevron Championship and then finished T-10 at St. Andrews in the AIG Women’s Open, earning the Smyth Salver Award for low amateur.
This year, she had a stellar junior season at Florida State, losing to only 10 players all season in 11 stroke-play events. Five of those losses were to her teammate Mirabel Ting, who won the Annika Award and also turned pro earlier this summer. Then Woad finished T-31 at the U.S. Women’s Open and won the Women’s Irish Open, making her chance at turning pro this summer more of a reality.
After her Amundi Evian finish, it was all but determined. And even with her raised expectations, she’s doing her best to keep it business as usual.
“Try and ignore it as much as possible,” she said. “I have high expectations for myself, anyway, so just try and deal with that.”
For Korda, who sits a shot back of Woad, Maguire, Rio Takeda and Nuria Iturrioz after the morning wave, she was impressed getting to watch Woad up close.
“She’s had an amazing run the last couple weeks and deserves where she’s at right now, and it’s going to be exciting to see where her career goes,” Korda said.
Woad said she felt as if their group fed off one another throughout the morning and she enjoyed being paired with two of the faces of the LPGA in her debut.
If her stellar play can continue, perhaps Woad is next.
“She’s obviously riding the crest of a wave, and I played with her first two days of Evian,” Maguire said. “She’s a great player and it’s an exciting week, her first professional start.
“I’m sure there’s quite a bit of pressure on her holders, but hopefully she’s surrounding herself with some good people. You saw with Rose Zhang a couple years ago, she got off to a very hot start, too. There will be a lot of new things for her the next few weeks and months, but I’m sure she’s well able to handle it.”
Read the full article here