“I want to win majors.” Five words and one mantra that show Lottie Woad is not the sort for messing about. It is rare to talk to a 21-year-old with such clarity of purpose and phlegmatic belief. None of that “living the dream” fare that sometimes comes with prodigies, no faux modesty or cocksure precocity, just faith in a rare talent. It comes as no surprise that Scottie Scheffler is an inspiration.
Breakthrough acts in any sport need to be handled with kid gloves, but the Tiger Woods analogies were made easier by a shared management company. The spoils of success also mean this interview was given to mark her new status as a brand ambassador for FM, a commercial property insurer. FM’s other big partnership is with Rory McIlroy, which is an indicator of Woad’s corporate clout.
Woad was still an amateur when she won the Irish Open in July and three weeks later she triumphed at the Scottish Open, pictured, on her pro debut
KATE MCSHANE/GETTY IMAGES
Her peers have been just as impressed. Lydia Ko, who was a world No1 at 17, said she hoped to pick her brain when they played together at the AIG Women’s Open. Charley Hull, England’s cigarette-puffing star, was the runner-up in that tournament and said Woad gave her “goosebumps”.
None of this fazes Woad who, like Scheffler, is more pragmatic than romantic. She is still with her old coaches, just as Scheffler has stuck with the septuagenarian sage Randy Smith. Both were also amateur stars, with Scheffler winning the US Junior Amateur in 2013 and Woad triumphing at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last year. Neither gets too high or low or could be regarded as an open goal for interviewers. “I look up to what Scottie’s doing and how he’s dominating but also just the demeanour he has as well,” Woad says. “I try to keep it pretty level because I feel like that’s when I play my best.”
One of the most notable features of Woad’s armoury is her grit under pressure. At the Irish Open she led by seven after three rounds and never looked like stumbling, finishing with a 69. Three weeks later at the Scottish Open she was two ahead going into the final round, but Kim Hyo-joo drew level on the back nine. Here was the test of a tyro, but it was Kim who faltered, and Woad won by three. “It’s a pretty good outcome I guess,” she said with flatliner calm, adding that her mum had got the train up the previous night and she had feared it might prove a wasted journey.
Her relationship with the pressure of a Sunday afternoon is telling. “I find it more fun, to be honest,” she says. “I feel it can be pretty packed coming down the stretch, but then on Sunday it separates out. That may make people think about it a little bit too much and it just gives you an opportunity to move up and put the pressure on. I enjoy that.”
One story from this close-knit family archive shows just how serious the golf project has long been. During the Covid lockdown, when Woad was only 16, her parents installed a 300 square foot putting green in their back garden in Farnham.
Woad’s family built a putting green in their garden in Farnham so she could practise during the pandemic
“It definitely saved me during lockdown because I would have been so bored,” she says. “I had a net as well, so I was just out there hitting and putting, trying to practise as much as possible because it felt like I was losing ground because England had a lot more restrictions than the US and some places in Europe. It was during the college recruitment process too. I could not go over to the US and visit the university or meet coaches, so they ended up recruiting me over Zoom and watching videos of me in the garden.”
The after-effects of the pandemic on a generation’s mental health are still playing out, but Woad’s burgeoning ambition was a guiding focus. “I just missed competing and probably didn’t play in a competition for two years,” she says. “That was the sad aspect, but at the same time I got to spend time with my family, and you just try to take the positives from that.”
Moving to Florida State University was clearly good for her, but the key figures from home remained pivotal figures: Steven Robinson and Nigel Edwards from England Golf, Luke Bone from Farnham Golf Club, and her parents Nick and Rachel.
Georgia Hall’s win at the Women’s British Open in 2018 remains the only British major triumph for 16 years. Hull has come close on numerous occasions, but getting over the line is hard. “I would watch a lot of Charley and Georgia when I was younger so it’s kind of weird to be playing with them,” says Woad.
Hall’s win at the British Open in 2018 remains the only major triumph by a British woman for 16 years
JASON CAIRNDUFF/REUTERS
“I’ve seen first-hand how good everyone is out there. It’s a big jump from the amateurs. You’ve seen it this year where there was a different winner every week for a while so I’m just looking to be in contention as much as possible, because when I’m in position on Sundays, I feel that generally I can get it going pretty well.”
The morning after her win at the Scottish Open, she was at Royal Porthcawl in Wales for a practice session, and she seems perplexed by the suggestion that she might have had a night celebrating. “It was the Open that week,” she says. “The goal was to try and win it, so it moved on quickly. We had to drive to Wales, which was quite a long way, but I knew Porthcawl would be a good test and I wanted to play as much as possible beforehand.” Two weeks after turning pro she was installed as favourite in Wales and finished eighth. Not bad, but she wants much more in 2026.
Woad with her family after winning the top amateur during the final round of the US Open in June
PATRICK MCDERMOTT/GETTY IMAGES
“I was playing sport when I was two or three and I always wanted to win no matter what I was doing, and that’s something that just continued as I got better — it made me want to win even more.” Hence, she was somewhat irked when Robinson beat her in a pre-Open match at Porthcawl. “I shot four or five under and I would have taken that in the Open, but yeah, he got the better of me there.”
Already the world No10, despite playing 30 fewer ranking tournaments than some above her, the future is now so bright that it is hard to imagine that this talented ball-striker might have been lost to football. Her grandfather’s Yorkshire roots mean she is a Leeds United fan, and she was once part of Southampton FC’s renowned academy. “I got to 13 or 14 and couldn’t do both to the level I wanted so I had to pick. I can’t say if I was better at golf or football at the time, but I found golf more enjoyable. I love that there are so many aspects that you can spend hours on everything.”
Although she misses the team element of football and college golf, she says that pales alongside the enjoyment she gets from exploring different elements of her chosen game. All of which can be improved, she says. “But we’re working with quite small margins.” The vital statistics are the ones inside 15 feet and 140 yards. “My memory works pretty well and I can remember pretty much every shot I’ve hit, so I go back to that and love stats.” If she needs a break, she has friends and the more erratic form of Leeds United to take solace in; she says she will visit Elland Road again soon. That, too, is not a half-hearted passion. “No,” she says. “I’m too keen.”
How many majors does she believe she can win in a field where there have been 14 different winners in a row? “I’ll take as many as I can get,” she says. Is she ahead of her own expectations? “I hoped that I could win and I believed that I could, but you can’t expect it. Now I’m looking forward to next year and having a full schedule to play.” The thrill of her sporting year is that it is just the start.