Who is Lottie Woad? The English golf phenom targeting AIG Women’s Open win on her professional major debut
Lottie Woad held the pose down the 18th at Dundonald Links, the final swing in anger on a glorious first stroll as a professional to complete an emphatic Scottish Open victory on debut.
The AIG Women’s Open is next for Woad, and the 21-year-old has retained an impressive demeanour to begin the week as a strong favourite at Royal Porthcawl.
There is a skip in Woad’s step this week, too, after pocketing her first cheque as a professional, with $300,000 (£223,000) secured on Sunday, particularly after going penniless earlier this month despite victory at the Irish Open due to her amateur status. “I need to get a car in America,” Woad said when asked about what she will do with her newfound wealth.
Woad, who was a talented young footballer from time spent at Southampton’s Centre of Excellence, is just setting out as a professional, but, of course, this dazzling run was foreseen by many in the game, ever since her astonishing win at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2024.
The Englishwoman made three birdies in her last four holes on that hallowed Georgia ground and proceeded to muscle in on the very best women in the world before turning over just last week.
This month alone, she destroyed the field in the Irish Open at Carton House, Fairmont, surging to a six-shot victory, and she was then tantalisingly close to forcing her way into the Evian Championship playoff, finishing just a shot behind eventual champion Grace Kim and Atthaya Thitikul.
Now, though, superstardom beckons with contention in her first major championship as a professional in South Wales, with the bookmakers installing her as a considerable favourite over Jeeno Thitikul and American superstar Nelly Korda. If her wins in Ireland and Scotland didn’t already confirm it, the ease at which Woad perseveres in adverse conditions could be seen with her tied-10th finish at the Old Course last year, as Lydia Ko prevailed in, at times, fiendishly difficult conditions on the Scottish coast.
Woad possesses enviable balance and a majestic swing, though her contemporaries point to her routine and ability to remain unflustered when the pressure rises.
“She’s absolutely amazing,” Korda said glowingly of Woad before the pair tee it up on Thursday. “I was very impressed with her composure, her process. I think, when it comes to her shot routine, especially under pressure and in the heat of the moment, sometimes people seem to fidget and kind of doubt themselves, but she stuck to it. It’s how mature she is for her age and how comfortable she was in the heat of the moment.”
Woad was introduced to the game growing up in Farnham, Surrey and started to hone her unmistakable swing from the age of seven with Luke Bone, the head professional at Farnham Golf Club.
“It’s so obvious that something inside of her is driven by this,” Bone told Golfweek. “That pressure is hers and hers alone.”
Alongside Bone’s influence, Woad took an increasingly popular path for British and Irish players to venture over to the United States, testing her game among the best amateur players in the world in the collegiate system of the NCAA.
It was at Florida State University, under the watchful eye of Amy Bond, that Woad’s trajectory skyrocketed, leaving her mark at some of the most prestigious courses in the sport, such as Augusta National, where Rory McIlroy created history of his own this year to clinch the men’s career grand slam at The Masters.
Bond maintains it is just “a matter of time” before she wins her first major, even at this early phase of her career, having witnessed her year-long spell as the No 1 amateur in the world and more than 18 months without finishing outside the top three in a collegiate tournament.
“She would practice all day long,” Bond revealed. “And she could sit on the putting green for four hours working on drills. When that putter gets going, man, you just better get out of the way.”
Success is coming so easily for Woad at the elite end of the sport that it is easy to draw parallels with fellow prodigy Luke Littler, whose relentless introduction to professional darts has changed the landscape entirely. That is a way off for Woad, but the ease in which she has found herself at the top of leaderboards welcomes a conversation of where her career will take her in majors and, invevitably the Solheim Cup, with a place pencilled in for Team Europe in the Netherlands for the 2026 edition of the event.
“I feel good obviously. I don’t feel too different, to be honest,” Woad said after her landmark victory in Scotland. “Yeah, I got a lot of confidence from the last few, the last month really. Just trying to continue to ride that.
“There’s always pressure, obviously,” Woad remarked. “But I don’t think there’s any more than there was, like from my perspective, before any of the last few weeks. Kind of still was wanting to contend there, and that’s still the aim.”
Confidence is high, but another major test at Royal Porthcawl will provide more answers in the remarkable rise of Woad.
