Lottie Woad is about to play in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship for the first time, but this start comes with plenty of questions.
The talented British star and second-year pro suffered her most noticeable big mistake and it came when she was on the cusp of winning the Meijer LPGA Classic on Sunday. Woad needed to make a putt of about two feet on the 18th hole to win her third LPGA Tour title, and she missed. The putt lipped out. Miyu Yamashita then won the tournament on the first playoff hole, leaving Woad in disbelief.
On Tuesday, the 22-year-old found a crazy thought to try to put the mess behind her.
“Obviously, last week kind of sucked,” Woad said in a news conference from Hazeltine National Golf Club, where the Women’s PGA begins on Thursday. “Just trying to remind myself that I’m still 22 and I’ve won twice already. If you told me that coming out of college [last] year, I would’ve bit your hand off for it. Just trying to use that perspective as much as possible.”
Having a major follow that kind of collapse could be a good thing. Woad doesn’t have time to wallow. Or pull a Mike Tyson-like bite of a human appendage. There’s plenty of work to shift to in assessing a course like Hazeltine and trying to win her first major. Woad wasn’t even in college when the Women’s PGA was played for the first time at Hazeltine in 2019.
“The golf course is amazing. Never been here before. Definitely going to be a test of all aspects of your game, which most major championships are,” Woad said. “Rough is pretty thick out there, so definitely want to hit it straight and try and hit as many greens as possible really. Feeling really good about my game the last few weeks and looking forward to it.”
Woad starred at Florida State, rose to be the No.1-ranked amateur in the world, and graduated to the LPGA Tour via the LEAP (LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway) program almost one year ago. She made her debut at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open and won, becoming the first LPGA player to do that since Rose Zhang in 2023.
Now the world’s eighth-ranked player, Woad has proven to be resilient before. She has a terrific track record in majors, where she’s made five consecutive cuts. She had a chance to win the Amundi Evian Championship, where she finished tied for third as an amateur. She turned pro and won, then finished tied for eighth in the AIG Women’s Open.
While she’s played extremely well as a professional, Woad has had difficult moments. She’s also proven to be resilient before, and she’s hoping to do it again.
Woad missed the cut at the Mizuho America’s Open, where she shot a first-round 80. The next event she played in—the Kroger Queen City Championship—she won. That was last month. She has five top-10s this year and already has $1.9 million in career earnings and plenty of good golf to draw on as she tries to flush that missed putt. Woad seems to have the capacity to flush a bad moment.
“I think you have to in golf, really. Like you’re going to lose way more times than you win out here,” Woad said. “Every week is another tournament, so you’re lucky with that. It doesn’t matter what you did last week. Doesn’t affect where you start on the leaderboard, obviously. Basically, as soon as I got here early Monday morning, I was switched on to this week.”
Now comes another test. Sure, it’s a major, but can Woad put a devastating missed opportunity in her rear-view mirror and continue her fine play in majors?
“It’s definitely easier when you’re playing well and you’re not looking for something on the range,” Woad said. “At the same time, golf is a funny game. You can be playing well one week and not be playing well the next week. Definitely still preparing for it the same as I would any other event. I’ve got my swing coach here this week as well and just doing some work on the range. Trying to get prep as good as possible, really.”
And that includes work off the range, like leaving her putting debacle behind her.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
