{"id":226068,"date":"2025-10-26T07:20:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T07:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/226068\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T07:20:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T07:20:11","slug":"lottie-woad-is-the-real-deal-even-tiger-didnt-win-his-first-pro-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/226068\/","title":{"rendered":"Lottie Woad is the real deal, even Tiger didn\u2019t win his first pro event"},"content":{"rendered":"

If one story can epitomise what makes Lottie Woad the most prodigious talent in British golf since Rory McIlroy, the hours after her victory at the Scottish Open in July are a good place to start.<\/p>\n

Ordinarily, a 21-year-old who had just won by three shots on their professional debut and claimed \u00a3223,000 in prize money might be inclined to celebrate a little overenthusiastically. Such was Robert MacIntyre\u2019s hangover after he won the men\u2019s event last year, he was forced to postpone his press conference at the Open Championship the following week. But shortly after Woad had lifted the trophy, Nigel Edwards, the performance director at England Golf, received a text telling him to be ready for practice at Royal Porthcawl, nearly 500 miles away, at 11am.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer father was driving but they didn\u2019t get in until 1.15am. After you\u2019ve won your first event [as a pro], you\u2019ve probably got a lot going on in your mind, but she only focused on doing all of her drills,\u201d Edwards says. \u201cLottie wasn\u2019t frightened of being successful. Some people step into that kitchen and it\u2019s a bit hot and their heart beats a little bit too fast. I think she relished it. <\/p>\n

\u201cWinning the Scottish Open heightened what a lot of people would see as pressure. I don\u2019t think she ever saw it that way. She saw it as a matter of course for her. That tells you a lot about somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lottie<\/p>\n

Woad won the Augusta National Women\u2019s Amateur last year<\/p>\n

JOHN ANGELILLO\/UPI\/REX\/SHUTTERSTOCK<\/p>\n

In terms of British sporting breakthroughs this year Woad\u2019s success has been virtually unrivalled. In July alone she won the Irish Open by six shots before finishing third at the Evian Championship \u2014 one of the five women\u2019s majors \u2014 a week later while still an amateur. After turning professional and immediately winning the Scottish Open Woad was installed as the favourite at the Women\u2019s Open, where she ultimately finished eighth. As of this weekend she is already ranked as high as No11 in the world, despite only playing in 14 ranking events. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m kind of normalised to the amazing things she has done but it is ridiculous if you zoom out from it,\u201d says Luke Bone, the head professional at Farnham Golf Club in Surrey, who has coached Woad since she was seven. \u201cTiger [Woods] had a pretty good start to his career and even he didn\u2019t win his first event [as a pro] and go on that run on that transition from amateur to pro.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karen Stupples, a two-times winner on the LPGA Tour, goes one further. \u201cThere\u2019s no question [she\u2019s the greatest British talent since Rory],\u201d she says. \u201cA future world No1 is something that I\u2019m expecting. We have talented players like Charley Hull and Georgia Hall, but they haven\u2019t got there. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look at Lottie, her skillset and the way she goes about her work, it is just so disciplined and I can totally see her in that position, and I think it\u2019s great for UK golf that we have this opportunity. Obviously we have it with Rory. Now we have it from a female perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AIG<\/p>\n

Woad was a talented footballer as a youngster \u2013 the Lionesses\u2019 loss has been golf\u2019s gain<\/p>\n

MORGAN HARLOW\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

The irony is that, if it were up to Woad, she might have been a professional footballer instead. An ardent Leeds United fan, she played for Southampton\u2019s academy side until she was 12. \u201cI\u2019d have been very happy playing for the Lionesses. I love any sport which involved a ball but in the end I had to make a choice,\u201d she said earlier this year. <\/p>\n

By that age Woad\u2019s golfing potential was already obvious. \u201cShe shot level par off about a six handicap in a competition at Blackmoor Golf Club [in Hampshire]. You could sort of see her then think, \u2018Hang on, I can do this,\u2019\u201d Bone says. \u201cShe was a notorious hard worker. Some of the traits she is famous for \u2014 commitment, determination, competitiveness \u2014 all really started to come out about that age, and she didn\u2019t like to get it wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woad can seem shy but those who know her best point to a dry sense of humour and a fierce hatred of losing. Bone still recalls one exhibition-style match he played against Woad at Farnham when she took issue with the length of time he took to find his ball on the deciding hole. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt hit a tree and was on the other side [of the fairway]. The club captains said it was fine, but Lottie still says she beat me because it should\u2019ve counted as lost,\u201d he says, laughing. In the run-up to the Women\u2019s Open at Royal Porthcawl this summer, where Edwards happens to be a member, he too won their match on the 18th. \u201cHer father made her have a picture with me holding my finger up as in a 1-up victory. That particularly irritated her, and it still does,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\"Lottie<\/p>\n

Stupples cannot remember such excitement about a female golfer since the era of Michelle Wie West and, later, Lydia Ko<\/p>\n

AP PHOTO\/KIN CHEUNG<\/p>\n

Woad enrolled at Florida State University in 2022 but continued to work with Bone and maintained close ties to England Golf. Two years later she won the Augusta National Women\u2019s Amateur with Steven Robinson, the lead women\u2019s coach, as her caddie. A supreme driver of the ball, Woad\u2019s wedge game and putting were at one stage considered her weaknesses, but three birdies in the closing four holes on one of golf\u2019s most iconic stretches confirmed she was the complete package and, a few months later, Woad completed her ascent to No1 amateur in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my point of view it was amazing how calm she was,\u201d says Robinson, who compares Woad\u2019s work ethic to another of his pupils, Matt Fitzpatrick. \u201cThey are never just going through the motions. Every shot in practice has a purpose and with a game-like intensity. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe two things that weren\u2019t her greatest asset as a young amateur have become pretty strong weapons in the professional game. Charley [Hull] was a natural talent. Lottie\u2019s talent is in slightly different areas: her work-rate, her ability to take on information. She\u2019s made herself into a great player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stupples cannot recall such excitement about a female golfer since Michelle Wie West and later Lydia Ko turned professional aged 16. \u201cYou just expected Michelle to do it and I think we just expect Lottie to do it,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

Nothing is ever guaranteed \u2014 it took almost a decade for Wie West to finally land her sole major title at the 2014 US Open \u2014 but the consensus is that, in Woad, Britain has a prodigy with the ability and aptitude to dominate the game in years to come. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to truly be the best in the world, you have to really love what you\u2019re doing. She definitely has that,\u201d Stupples adds. \u201cIt\u2019s always a surprise when somebody comes straight out and wins so quickly. You knew she had the talent but it\u2019s never as easy as that. But Lottie makes it look very easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Nominations for the Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year 2025 Awards are now open. Please cast your votes below<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If one story can epitomise what makes Lottie Woad the most prodigious talent in British golf since Rory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-226068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}