Lottie Woad Claims Victory On Professional Debut At ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open

Lottie Woad has taken the ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open title by three to join a small group of players who have won on their professional debuts.

Remarkably, it’s only a little over two years since Rose Zhang matched Beverly Hanson’s 1951 achievement of winning an LPGA Tour event in her first event since turning pro.

Now Woad has joined the list after an accomplished performance at Dundonald Links.

Woad carded rounds of 67, 65, 67 and 68 to etch her name into the history books less than two weeks after turning pro.

She headed to the final round with a two-shot advantage over Sei Young Kim and Nanna Koerstz Madsen on 17 under, and she got off to a solid start.

After settling any nerves with par at the first, she soon hit her stride with successive birdies on the second and third.

However, Kim had a more difficult start, with a bogey on the first and further slip-ups on the fifth and sixth after her only birdie on the front nine at the third.

Meanwhile, Madsen remained in touch with birdies at the first and fourth, while Hyo Joo Kim also hauled herself into contention, going four under after her first seven holes.

If that wasn’t enough pressure on Woad, a certain Nelly Korda was also three shots back after a run of four successive birdies between the third and the sixth.

For Korda, though, that was as good as it got as she then made five bogeys and just two more birdies in the remainder of her round, meaning the World No.1’s first win this season remains out of reach.

With all that going on further down the leaderboard, Woad remained calm with successive pars between the fourth and 12^th.

Despite that assured performance, Hyo Joo Kim kept the pressure on, and tied Woad at the top of the leaderboard with her sixth birdie of the day at the 11^th.

At that point, it could have gone either way, but Woad remained unflappable with a birdie at the 13^th to move one clear of Kim on 20 under.

Kim then birdied the 14^th, with Woad following suit minutes later, but by that time, Kim had slipped up with a bogey at the 15^th and the English star’s lead was back to two.

Another bogey followed for Kim at the 16^th, but Woad couldn’t give herself more breathing space, making her only bogey of the round at the same hole.

Still, a two-shot lead was handy with just two to play, and after first Kim, then Woad, made par on the 17^th, Kim couldn’t force the issue on the 18^th, finishing with another par to leave her on 18 under.

That meant that, with her two-shot advantage intact, Woad knew what she needed to do coming down the 18^th.

She didn’t blink, with a beautiful approach to within a few feet of the hole to set up a birdie putt, which she duly holed to finish on 21 under, to not only claim a historic title but also a check for $300,000.

Even more remarkably, the former World Amateur No.1’s performance continued a run that saw her win the KPMG Women’s Irish Open at the start of the month while still an amateur, before finishing T3 at the Amundi Evian Championship in her last start before turning professional.

Further back, Sei Young Kim finished T3 on 14 under, where she was joined by Julia Lopez Ramirez.

For the Spaniard, who only turned professional in December, it means she has now booked her place in next week’s AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales.