Lottie Woad has taken the women’s game by storm and despite it being just her second professional start, the 21-year-old Englishwoman has been installed as the bookmakers’ favourite ahead of the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales this week.
It’s been a whirlwind few weeks since capturing her first LET victory at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open, then following up with a tie for third and low amateur honours at the Evian Championship a week later before turning professional.
Her LPGA status for 2026 already secure, a victory at the co-sanctioned Women’s Scottish Open thrust her even further into the spotlight, but she maintains that she was not feeling the pressure as she added an LPGA win to her already impressive resume.
“I mean, I felt pretty comfortable,” she told the press ahead of the AIG Women’s Open. “Like the last day I was hitting a lot of fairways and a lot of greens, so it was pretty stress-free, to be honest. There wasn’t very many holes where I felt I was going to make bogey; I wasn’t in position to do that. So just to give myself those chances.
“I didn’t actually know I’d been caught on the back nine because there wasn’t any scoreboard. So I didn’t really have a clue. Then when I birdied 13 and 14, I found out I had the lead, and I was pretty comfortable coming down 18 just laying up.”
And she’s continuing to live in the moment, at least until she has a week off.
“I don’t think I’ve reflected too much, to be honest,” she said. “I think after this week, after this week’s big week, I’ve got a week before I go out to America. That’s probably when I’ll look back at the last few months and kind of reflect on that.”
Woad played alongside world number one Nelly Korda in the first two rounds at Dundonald Links last week, and Korda admitted that she was thoroughly impressed with what Woad had achieved in such a short space of time and views her as a serious contender in what is the fifth and final major of the women’s season.
“Yeah, it’s really cool,” Woad said when asked her thoughts on Korda’s praise. “It was great for me that I got to play with her my pro debut. She’s someone I’ve always looked up to. She’s obviously an amazing player and a great competitor, and to hear she said something like that is really nice.”
Woad made a scouting trip to Royal Porthcawl a few weeks ago and is happy that she did as some of the tee shots are blind and she has a little bit of a head start over some of her competition ahead of the opening practice rounds.
“It’s nice to see the start lines before you get here,” she explained. “There’s a few holes that are kind of blindish. You’re aiming over the gorge and you don’t think that’s right, but it actually is the right line. It’s nice to know that before the practice round.
“Although it was a little softer when I played it, but not too different.”
She also doesn’t believe that her new status as a pre-tournament favourite will have any major impact on her performance, stating that the goal remains the same.
“I mean, there’s always pressure obviously, but I don’t think there’s any more than there was, like from my perspective, before any of the last few weeks. Kind of still was wanting to contend there, and that’s still the aim,” she added.
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