Lottie Woad collected her first paycheck Sunday at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open.
It was a big one, too: a $300,000 first-place prize.
Woad won in her professional debut – and for the second time in her last three starts – with a three-shot victory at Dundonald Links in Gailes, just north of Troon.
“It’s a pretty good outcome, I guess,” Woad said. “Definitely wasn’t expecting to win my first event, but I knew I was playing well.”
Woad birdied two of her first three holes after starting the final round two shots clear of the field. Hyo Joo Kim’s seven birdies in 14 holes earned the Korean a share of the lead with Woad, but Woad’s back-to-back birdies, at Nos. 13 and 14, pushed her back ahead. And Kim would then slip with two straight bogeys to end her threat.
“There aren’t that many scoreboards out there to be honest, so I didn’t know I’d got level,” Woad said. “I knew it was probably quite tight because I was only a couple under at the turn, but then when I had the two birdies early on the back nine, I’d knew I’d gotten a bit of a lead by then.”
Woad carded just her third bogey of the week after tugging her approach left at the par-4 16th, though it mattered little. Woad stuffed her approach at the par-4 17th but missed the short birdie putt. She safely laid up at the par-5 closing hole before wedging to 2 feet for a closing birdie.
Her 4-under 68 pushed her to 21 under. Kim (68) ended at 18 under, four shots ahead of Julia Lopez Ramirez (65) and Sei Young Kim (73). Nelly Korda (71) was solo fifth at 13 under.
Woad is now only the third player to win in her professional debut on the LPGA, joining Rose Zhang (2023) and Beverly Hanson (1951).
Here’s how much champion Lottie Woad made in winning in her professional debut at the Women’s Scottish Open.
It’s been a comfortable transition for the Farnham, England native, as she won the KPMG Women’s Irish Open a few weeks ago before capping her amateur career with a T-3 finish at the Amund Evian Championship. She’ll make her next start across the pond as well, at next week’s AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl.
“Trying to just be up there really,” Woad said of her Open expectations after a T-10 last year at St. Andrews. “That’s all you can ask for.”
And though Woad had full LPGA status guaranteed through next season thanks to the LPGA’s LEAP program, now she had a two-year winner’s exemption and membership through 2027.
