The summer of Lottie Woad continues as she wins the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by three strokes over Hyo Joo Kim in her professional debut. Her final round of 68 (-3) capped off a stellar performance as the only player to shoot in the 60s in all four rounds.
Earlier this month, professionals became aware as the former world number one amateur won the KPMG Women’s Irish Open by a dominant six strokes. Two weeks ago, Woad earned her LPGA Tour card through the LPGA Tour’s LEAP program with a T3 at the Amundi Evian Championship. Her first victory as a professional appears to be another sign of what is to come for the English phenom.
Woad began the final round of the Scottish Open at 17-under, maintaining the two-shot lead she held from the day before. Korea’s Sei Young Kim and Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen were two back from the lead at 15-under. Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim was three back at 14-under. Hyo Joo Kim threatened early, with four birdies in her first seven holes to tie Woad at the top. However, Kim was unable to close out the round, shooting two bogeys in her final four holes to drop behind Woad. A birdie on 18 sealed the win for Woad. She had this to say after winning her first professional start.
“Yeah, I think it’s quite hard to do that, but very special to win in my first event. You know, 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, which is nice,” she said.
Nelly Korda demonstrated why she was the world number one this week, as she continued her streak of consecutive cuts, now at 12. This ties her record, which she had previously set in 2018 and 2019.
Although she was unable to collect the prize money from her last two starts, Woad took home $300,000 in prize money and 500 points in the Race to CME Globe this week. Although it is her first allocation of points on the LPGA Tour, she is currently in 46th place in the season-long competition.
The LPGA and Ladies European Tour will resume next week at the final major of the year, the AIG Women’s Open in Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan, Wales.
