Lottie Woad giving women’s golf what it needs while hunting historic win

With the men’s major championship season concluded after Scottie Scheffler’s dominant Open Championship win last week, women’s golf has the stage all to itself for the next two weeks, with this week’s ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open leading into the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl.

It’s a fitting time for Lottie Woad, the star amateur who just finished T3 at the Amundi Evian Championship, to make her professional debut, adding extra juice to the final leg of the LPGA’s major season.

The LPGA season has been all about parity. World No. 1 Nelly Korda finished runner-up at the U.S. Women’s Open but has yet to win. Lydia Ko won in February but hasn’t put herself in contention at the majors. World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul had opportunities to win her first career major at the Women’s PGA Championship and Evian but fell short on the weekend. Charley Hull has also yet to cross the finish line. Minjee Lee delivered an emphatic win at PGA Frisco, Maja Stark conquered Erin Hills and Grace Kim’s win at Evian was the most dramatic final round of a major you’ll see.

But the buzz hasn’t been what was expected coming off last year.

Korda’s historic run last season gave women’s golf a jolt of electricity, and Ko’s summer run to the gold medal and AIG Women’s Open title was a fitting capper on a tremendous season for the LPGA.

Women’s golf has needed a lightning bolt, a win, as the major season draws to a close across the pond — something to recapture the momentum it had last season.

They are getting that this week in the form of Woad, who has opened with rounds of 67, 65, and 67 to take a two-shot lead over Sei Young Kim and Nanna Koerstz Madsen into the final round at Dundonald Links.

Woad played the first two rounds with Korda. She opened Saturday’s third round with just a two-shot lead over Korda, but the World No. 1 shot just a two-under 70 on Saturday and lost three shots to Woad, who posted a five-under round.

Korda made her LPGA debut a decade ago. It came with much less fanfare than Woad’s, who arrives after a storied career at Florida State, a win at the ANWA, a win at the Irish Open and a near-miss at the Evian.

“That was so long ago,” Korda said Saturday of her debut. “Gosh, this is my 10th year on tour. I think it was on Symetra. Obviously, my professional debut was not as in the limelights like her. But for her to succeed and to be leading the event is pretty special.”

Woad got into contention without her A-game. Her driver, normally one of her superpowers, was not up to snuff in the first round, but she still found a way to shoot five-under in the opening round. Woad then took advantage of some calmer conditions during her second nine on Friday, shooting a seven-under round to grab the 36-hole lead.

Woad is a fast-rising star. She became the first LPGA player to graduate from the LEAP program, deciding to turn pro and forgo her final year at Florida State after her blistering stretch that saw her win the Irish Open and nearly bag the Evian.

“I’m sure there’s quite a bit of pressure on her shoulders but hopefully she’s surrounding herself with some good people,” Leona Maguire said. “You saw with Rose Zhang a couple years ago, she got off to a very hot start, too. There will be a lot of new things for her the next few weeks and months but I’m sure she’s well able to handle it.”

Zhang is the player Woad is trying to join on Sunday.

A little over two years ago, Zhang, who was also a star amateur, won in her professional debut at the Mizuho Americas Open, becoming the first LPGA player to win in her pro debut since Beverly Hanson in 1951.

All eyes have been on Woad this week, but the 21-year-old has been at ease now that there are no more questions about her golf future.

“I don’t think it’s too different,” Woad said Saturday. “I feel like there’s a lot of attention kind of leading up with me trying to get my points. So this kind of feels a bit more free now that I’ve got my card.”

Woad isn’t going to blow you away in interviews. In that way, she’s very much like Korda, a one-track-minded golfing savant who only wants to dig it out of the dirt and spend little time in front of the microphones. But her game speaks for itself, and her stellar pro debut has delivered something women’s golf needed: more buzz!

This week’s live Scottish Open coverage has only been available on the NBCSports app, with “encore” coverage at night on Golf Channel. How the product gets in front of more eyeballs on a more consistent basis is an obstacle that new commissioner Craig Kessler has to overcome. (You can get to know him more in his interview with our Claire Rogers here.)

There’s no reason that the Women’s Scottish Open shouldn’t be on live television in the morning, especially when the PGA Tour is back in Minnesota.

But Woad’s chance at history has forced the television folks to audible and put Sunday’s final round on CNBC from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. ET. That’s a small, but necessary win for women’s golf in a week where the golf spotlight should be on them.

With the major finale looming in the distance, women’s golf should take up all the oxygen on Sunday as a rising star looks to join the record books with its biggest star in Korda looking to go low and hunt her down, delivering the lightning bolt women’s golf has been searching for this season.