Lottie Woad certainly is no stranger to the golf spotlight, but in her first taste of professional golf, she made everyone in the sport knows who she is.
The 21-year-old wasted no time making an impact in her first official professional start, beating a star-filled field to capture the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links.
The result was never really in doubt for Woad, who led by two entering the final round and held off Hyo Joo Kim for the three-shot victory. Woad also shut out the likes of Nelly Korda (fifth), Ariya Jutanugarn (eighth) and Lauren Coughlin (tied for 10th) to win the tournament.
Despite essentially cruising to the title — a bogey on 15 was the only real tester down the stretch — Woad experienced the full run of emotions in chasing down her first professional win.
‘It might have looked less stressful than maybe it was,” Woad, who made a grand total of zero bogeys through the first two rounds, told reporters, per Golfweek. “But I think I only had like three bogeys, which, I mean, the wind wasn’t too bad the first few days. But on links golf, it’s definitely about bogey avoidance. That was probably the key to winning.”
Lottie Woad Cashes In With Win in First Career Pro Start
She picked a good time to go pro, too. She’ll take home a $300,000 winner’s share of the $2 million purse.
While this is Woad’s first win since turning professional, it’s not her first win on a professional tournament. She dominated at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open on the Ladies European Tour where she ran away and hid with a six-stroke win. She then played the Evian Championship, a major and nearly won that, finishing just one stroke back in a tied for third.
Needless to say, Woad is primed and ready for the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl. By the way, she finished 10th at the Women’s Open a year ago.
Golf stats whiz Justin Ray shared some jaw-dropping numbers about Woad’s July run following her win at the Scottish.
Win, T-3, Win 67.3 scoring average 55-under-par +4.83 (!!) strokes gained total per round
Beating the field by nearly 5 shots on average. Is that good?
Success Nothing New for Historically Dominant Woad
Woad’s success, as historic as it might be, isn’t surprising to anyone who follows the women’s game. Her list of accomplishments is wildly impressive. She really broke onto the scene with a win at the 2022 Girls Amateur Championship and then she followed that up with the biggest win of her career (at least until recently) when she took down the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur the week before the Masters. She had a chance to back-to-back at the famed club in Georgia, but a final-day 72 in 2025 cost her a chance to win; instead, she “settled” for a third-place finish, three shots behind.
And for good measure, she cleaned up at Florida State where she won Freshman of the Year in 2023 and was the ACC’s golfer of the year in 2024.
Woad, a native of England, should be among the favorites to win the Women’s Open. Clearly, she feels right at home on links courses, and no one on earth is playing better golf right now than Woad.
Golf’s Newest Phenom Has Arrived With Historic Scottish Open Win