Lottie Woad’s goal forward of the AIG Girls’s Open was merely to make it by means of to the weekend, though she is going to now need to set new objectives after a powerful begin at St Andrews.
The Englishwoman marked her debut within the occasion with a superb level-par 72 in robust winds on Thursday morning, then continued to exceed her personal expectations within the worst of the circumstances within the second spherical.
Woad carded a front-nine 33 on Friday afternoon to succeed in the flip inside 5 strokes of clubhouse chief Nelly Korda, with the 20-year-old then closing a two-under 70 to go into the weekend in tied-Eleventh and eight photographs off the tempo.
“I want to just try and enjoy it, keep trying to make birdies and see how high I can finish,” Woad advised Sky Sports activities. “I think it played a little easier [compared to Thursday], the gusts weren’t as strong, but it was still a challenge.
“The placing was a bit simpler at present, which was good. Feeling good, simply attempting to maintain enjoying stable, simply attempting to minimise errors.”
On why she thinks she made such an excellent begin, Woad added: ‘”I’ve got quite a bit of experience on links golf. Got those experiences of just playing knock-down shots which is kind of what I was doing the whole front nine, which if you don’t know how to do it’s a bit of a struggle when it’s into wind.”
Woad goes to stay an beginner for the foreseeable future as she continues faculty in the USA, whereas Catriona Matthew – who may have her as a participant in Nice Britain and Eire’s Curtis Cup crew subsequent week at Sunningdale – is happy by her potential.
“I think she’ll be really important, just for the whole morale [of the team],” Matthew mentioned after lacking the reduce at St Andrews. “They’ve all played with her, they know they can beat her but they know she’s good. I think having that will just give them a bit more confidence as a team.”
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Former champion Catriona Matthew had a becoming send-off, birdieing her closing gap at St Andrews in her final ever AIG Girls’s Open look.
On what makes her so spectacular, Matthew added: “It’s just her all-around game. There’s no real weakness. The main thing is she’s mentally tough…someone who can dig deep and do it when they have to. There’s no huge rush [to turn professional], I don’t think. We all know golf you can have a long career. I think she’s enjoying college.”
Woad’s rise to beginner stardom
Woad has previous hyperlinks success within the 2022 R&A Ladies’ Newbie at Carnoustie, the place she claimed a 7&6 victory to hitch an inventory of champions together with Solheim Cup captain Suzann Pettersen and former AIG Girls’s Open champions Anna Nordqvist and Georgia Corridor.
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We went all the way down to Lottie Woad’s residence membership to search out out in regards to the junior part that helped her speedy rise by means of the ladies’s recreation.
The Florida State College pupil has represented England in each the Arnold Palmer Cup and the Girls’s World Newbie Staff Championship, whereas she is anticipated to play a key position for Nice Britain and Eire towards the USA within the Curtis Cup later this month.
Woad made historical past in April when she gained the August Nationwide Girls’s Newbie in dramatic vogue, held on the residence of The Masters, birdieing three of her final 4 holes to say a one-shot victory and turn into the primary European winner of the occasion.
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Highlights of the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Newbie closing discovered.
That victory secured invitations to 4 of the 5 majors this yr, with Woad making a right away influence when she completed tied-Twenty third – having been 4 off the midway lead – on debut on the Chevron Championship.
She has additionally recorded second place finishes within the NCAA D1 Girls’s Championship, Florida State Match Up and Collegiate Invitational at GCC this season, resulting in Woad turn into the primary Englishwoman to ever prime the World Newbie Golf Rating (WAGR) earlier this summer season.
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Lottie Woad’s native golf membership have fun her being the primary British participant to win the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Newbie.
Additional main begins on the US Girls’s Open and Evian Championship have adopted forward of her look on the Residence of Golf, whereas Woad has gained the long-lasting Mark H McCormack Medal because the main lady beginner in 2024.
The award ensures her exemptions into the US Girls’s Open and the AIG Girls’s Open subsequent season, no matter her weekend efficiency at St Andrews, with extra alternatives prone to come Woad’s means within the months and years forward. A reputation we’ll see on leaderboards frequently sooner or later.
Watch Lottie Woad in motion on the AIG Girls’s Open this weekend and the Curtis Cup from August 30-September 1 reside on Sky Sports activities. Stream the ladies’s majors and extra sport with NOW.
