Irvine, Scotland – Lotty’s oud was tapped on the final birdie, pulling the ball out of the cup, giving the crowd a simple wave, as if she had done this. The British star looked easy on Sunday when she won the Women’s Scotland Open with her professional debut.
When Heo Joo Kim filed the charges on a windy day at Dundonald Rink, Oud never fluttered.
Woad is the second player in three years to win the LPGA Tour in his professional debut, following Rose Chan at Mizuho Americas, which opens at Liberty National in 2023.
Woad ended in 2021 at 267, earning $300,000.
“I think it’s very difficult to do that, but winning my first event is very special,” Woad said. “Everyone was chasing me today and managed to keep the lead, played very well and hit a lot of good shots.”
Kim opened with four birdies on seven holes and she shared the lead with WOAD when the Koreans added birdies on the 11th and 12th.
Woad couldn’t flap his wings and made birdies on the 13th and 14th holes, regaining control and dropped only one shot late in the round. She finished with a three-quarter wedge on a winding burn for a birdie and a reserved celebration.
Her victory is certainly going to attract everyone’s attention with women’s golf. WOAD was the number one amateur in the women’s rankings when she won the Women’s Ireland Open on the Women’s Europe Tour three weeks ago. She then finished one shot from the playoffs at the Evian Championship in France, where she majored in LPGA.
That gave her enough points to her LPGA card, so the 21-year-old decided to take her final year at Florida and Turn Pro. Currently she has an LPGA title – the Women’s Scotland Open is approved in collaboration with Lett – she heads south towards Wales’ Royal Porte Call for the final major at the Women’s Open.
Nelly Korda, who played the opening round at Woad, drove off four straight birdies on the front nine until she lacked putts that shook her momentum. She shot 71, finished eight shots, and after a seven-week season in 2024, the Americans didn’t win this year.
Julia Lopez Ramirez closed at 65, tied her third place with Say Young Kim (73), winning one of three spots available at the Women’s British Open next week. Other spots went to Paula Leto in South Africa and Mary Liu in China.
Woad first named her last year when she won the Augusta National Women’s Amateurs in birdies on three of her last four holes. She said it was more pressure than she felt in her professional debut.
“I think Augusta was the biggest tournament I played at the time and was like a big win for me,” Woad said. “So I definitely felt the pressure of that more, so I felt like all these experiences helped me with this.”
The only difference this week was getting paid for it. In addition to winning the Women’s Ireland Open, she also placed 31st in the US Women’s Open this year and 10th in the Women’s British Open, held in St Andrews last summer.
She heads to Wales in hopes of maintaining momentum.
“Yeah, that was pretty good. I really don’t know how to explain it,” Woad said. “It’s always good to just shoot a low score.”
On the LPGA Tour, all 19 tournaments this year featured a different winner, the longest winner, the longest winner in 75 years’ history.