Lottie Woad Wins Scottish Open In Professional Debut

As her wedge shot into the eighteenth hole at Dundonald Links danced around the pin leading to a finishing birdie at the Scottish Open, Lottie Woad announced to the professional golf world that she has arrived. A final round 68 capped off a three-shot victory over a loaded field at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open.

Woad, the 21-year-old Englishwoman and former world number one ranked amateur’s victory shouldn’t come as a surprise to those who have been paying attention. In early July, she won the Irish Open as an amateur and backed up that performance with a T3 finish in the Evian Masters, a major on the LPGA Tour.

On a windy day at Dundonald Links in Irvine, Scotland, Woad looked unfazed as Hyo Joo Kim made an early move on the front nine with four early birdies in the first seven holes. Woad herself had a clean card on the front nine with a bogey-free 34 as she displayed a very disciplined game, often seen in more seasoned players.

After Kim’s hot start, she also made birdies on the 11th and 12th holes and briefly shared the lead before Woad birdied the 13th and 14th holes to regain control of the championship. Walking up the eighteenth hole, Woad laid up into the par-5 finisher before sticking a 3/4 wedge to 2 feet to seal the tournament.

“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,” Woad told the press.

For her victory, the 21-year old made $300,000 and possibly more importantly, she earned status on the Ladies European Tour for the rest of this season (she also has LPGA status) which will allow her to accumulate points for next season’s Solheim Cup.

Young Players Finding Success In Professional Debuts

Woad became the second player in the last three years to win her pro debut. In 2023, Rose Zhang, the american stand out from Stanford, won her pro debut at the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National.

World number one Nelly Korda, who played with Woad the first three rounds, got off to a great start making four-straight birdies on the front nine, before a bulky putter derailed her chances with a final round 71, finishing eight shots behind Woad.

Woad hopped on the world stage last year as she birdied three of the final four holes to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur title. She commented that she felt more pressure there than in her professional debut in Scotland. “I think Augusta, that was the biggest tournament I played in at the time and was kind of my big win,” Woad said. “So definitely felt the pressure of it more there, and I felt like all those experiences helped me with this.”

Women’s professional golf heads to Wales next week to Royal Porthcrawl for the final major of the season, the AIG Women’s Open. Lottie Woad will look to continue her stellar play as she will undoubtedly be one of the favorites to win.

Mike is a founding member of Break80 Golf and a contributing golf writer for Forbes with PGA Tour and LIV Golf media credentials. He can be found on social media platforms @short_sided_golf