Golf: 21-Year-Old Woad Claims Scottish Open Title

Women’s Scottish Open final-round leaderboard

-21 Woad (Eng); -18 H-J Kim (Kor); -14 S-Y Kim (Kor), Lopez (Spa); -13 Korda (USA); -11 Madsen (Den); -10 Reto (SA).

Selected others: -8 Hewson (Eng); -6 Maguire (Ire); -5 Hull (Eng); -4 Hall (Eng); -1 Harry (Wal); E Fuller (Eng); +7 Williams (Wal), Dryburgh (Sco).

Full leaderboard

England’s Lottie Woad delivered a statement victory on her professional debut at the Women’s Scottish Open as a final-round 68 secured her second tour win.

The 21-year-old went into the final round with a two-shot lead over South Korea’s Sei Young Kim and held her nerve to keep the chasing pack at bay.

Five birdies and one bogey – just her third in 72 holes around Dundonald Links – took Woad to 21 under for the tournament, three clear of nearest challenger Hyo Joo Kim.

Seven-time LPGA winner Kim matched her at 20 under midway through the back nine, but successive bogeys at 15 and 16 allowed Woad to move clear at the top.

The former world number one amateur held a two-shot lead going down the par-five 18th and, after knocking a wedge to tap-in range, she finished in style with a birdie.

“It’s a pretty good outcome,” Woad said in understated fashion. “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win but knew I was playing well and just hoping to contend.

“There’s not many scoreboards out there, but I knew it was probably quite tight at one stage.

“It’s great. Links golf is really fun and it went fine. My dad was here all week and my mum got the train up last night, so I was hoping I wouldn’t mess it up.”

Woad, who won the Irish Open as an amateur, turned professional last week after missing out on £400,000 prize money when finishing just a shot outside the play-off won by Grace Kim at the Evian Championship – the women’s fourth major of the year.

She now takes home £220,000 in prize money for winning on Scotland’s west coast and heads to Royal Porthcawl for next week’s Women’s Open among the favourites.

“Even if I hadn’t won this week, I would still be trying to win the Open next week,” added Woad. “It’s still a learning curve getting used to the attention.”

Bbc.com