On Sunday, Lottie Woad enjoyed what is becoming a regular tradition in her pro career.<\/p>\n
With a final-round 69 at the Kroger Queen City Championship in Cincinnati, Woad, who is 22, won her second LPGA event (and third event in total) since turning pro in the middle of last year. Woad\u2019s victory was the latest highlight in her rapid climb up the food chain in the women\u2019s game. It was also a moment of affirmation for one of her more \u2026 eclectic competitive rituals: a bag of gummy bears<\/a> that has served as her good-luck charm.<\/p>\n As the story goes, the tradition started with Woad\u2019s caddie, David Taylor, a veteran LPGA looper who evidently shares her sweet tooth.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, back in the UK, we\u2019ve got kind of little supermarket called Marks & Spencer,<\/a> and they do this sweet called Percy Pigs<\/a>, and it just so happened that Singapore had one of these little small supermarkets, and I came across it one night when we were out for dinner,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cSo, I took them and I put them in the bag, and I said, \u2018These are some birdie sweets.’\u201d<\/p>\n Caddies are famously adept at discovering motivational tools for their players, and in Taylor\u2019s case, the key to Woad\u2019s heart was simple.<\/p>\n \u201cNow, every player is driven by different things, some are financially driven, Lotte is in fact driven by sweets,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, I put them in the bag, and I said, \u2018Every birdie you make, we get one each.\u2019 So it\u2019s not she\u2019s going to hit some mad sugar rush or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n Woad is careful to point out that she\u2019s not exactly housing gummy bears during the course of competition. The candies are a boost that helps to break up the monotony of life on the road.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know, we\u2019ve done it the last few events that we remembered,\u201d Woad said with a grin. \u201cYeah, I think people think that we\u2019re like stuffing our faces with sweets during the round, but like realistically we\u2019re eating like four gummy bears.\u201d<\/p>\n But Woad\u2019s moment in the sun at the Kroger Queen City Championship was dually rewarding, and not just for the sugar high of a pro victory. As Taylor explained in an interview with SiriusXM<\/a>, he\u2019d made his pro an unusual promise: The next time she won an event, she could choose the design for the next tattoo on her caddie\u2019s body.<\/p>\n Woad\u2019s victory in Cincy meant that she had earned that right, and as you might expect, there was only one option that made sense.<\/p>\n \u201cActually, about one hour ago, I got a text message from her, and she\u2019s finally chosen what to get,\u201d Taylor said with a laugh. \u201cShe\u2019s chosen the piece, and it is, in fact, going to be a little gummy bear with a crown on it.\u201d<\/p>\n A gummy bear with a crown \u2014 fitting for the first crowning of a new LPGA heavyweight player-caddie pairing \u2026 and one that just so happened to come in the Queen City.<\/p>\n