AUGUSTA, Ga. — The disappointment was evident on Lottie Woad’s face as the No. 1 women’s amateur in the world walked off the 18th green Saturday afternoon, her dream of being the first to repeat as the winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur having come to an end.
That it came as the results of one bad hole didn’t help matters either.
Trailing leader (and eventual winner) Carla Bernat Escuder by one shot heading into the back nine, Woad hit her approach on the par-4 10th hole the one place you absolutely, positively don’t want to go: over the green. With the ball nestled beside a bush, the 21-year-old Englishwoman had to take an unplayable lie. Playing her fourth shot from off some pines, she left her ball short of the green, then got up-and-down for a double-bogey 6.
“I put a good swing on it,” Woad insisted of her second shot, “it was just the wrong club [she hit a 5-iron instead of a 6]. Thought it was meant to be into the wind, and off the downslope it came out a bit too flat, so probably should have just hit one less club. Then got in an unfortunate position, so probably was always going to make 6 from there.”
To Woad’s credit, she didn’t give up the fight after the mistake, making birdies on the 13th and 14th holes to stay within striking distance of Bernat Escuder. And given how Woad pulled off her win in 2024—making birdies on three of her final four holes to chase down Bailey Shoemaker—the dream of a repeat victory wasn’t all that far-fetched even as she was running out of holes.
But then she flared her tee shot on the par-3 16th in a greenside bunker, resulting in a late bogey that sealed her fate. A closing 72 left Woad with a nine-under 207 score, finishing three shots back of Bernat Escuder and two shots behind runner-up Asterisk Talley.
“I’m pretty frustrated,” Woad said. “Played decent tee to green, just didn’t hole really any putts, and that’s what it came down to in the end.”
Woad did manage to roll one in on the first hole, making an early birdie that appeared to be sending a message to the rest of the field. But that’s when her flat stick went cold.
If there’s solace in defeat, Woad continued a streak of top three finishes that dates back to last August. And Woad tried to look at the bright side as she finished talking with the press on Saturday.
“Yeah, I think you learn every time you’re in contention. It’s just putting yourself in those positions really. You can’t win every time. I can be pretty happy with how I played this week. Like the goal coming into it was just to be in contention. So got that, and yeah, it was a pretty good defense in the end.”
Just not quite the one she was dreaming of.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
