Lottie Woad runs away from strong pro field to win Women’s Irish Open

Lottie Woad’s legend continued to grow on Sunday at Carton House Golf Club in Kildare, Ireland.

The world No. 1 amateur already has a host of accolades under her belt, including the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur and low amateur honors at the AIG Women’s Open and U.S. Women’s Open. She has won five times at Florida State and just completed a junior season in which she didn’t finish worse than third until a T-8 at the NCAA Individual Championships.

On Sunday, Woad ran away from a strong pro field at the Ladies European Tour’s KPMG Women’s Irish Open Golf Championship, shooting a four-under-par 69 on Sunday to finish the tournament at 21 under, six shots ahead of runner-up Madeline Sagstrom.

“It means a lot to get the win,” Woad said. “Obviously, I had a big lead coming into today, but I still had to really focus as I was being chased by some really good players. I’m happy to get it done. It’s perfect. I feel like I’m playing well, and I hope to continue that into Evian next week.”

The field also included LPGA pros Charley Hull, who finished fourth, Leona Maguire and Georgia Hall.

With the win, Woad becomes the first amateur to win an LET event since Jana Melichova won the 2022 Tipsport Czech Ladies Open. Lydia Ko won an LET event as an amateur back in 2013 when she lifted the trophy at the New Zealand Women’s Open as a 15-year-old.

On Sunday, Woad started the day seven shots ahead of Sagstrom. The amateur opened with birdies at No. 2 and No. 4 before dropping a shot at the fifth. But Woad birdied the eighth and the 13th. A bogey at the 15th, just her third of the week, was quickly erased by back-to-back birdies at 16 and 17 to put the finishing touches on a dominant victory that was just the latest sign of what’s to come as Woad approaches the LPGA.

While the 21-year-old didn’t earn any LEAP points for her victory in Ireland, she is all but guaranteed to secure the remaining two points she needs to earn her LPGA Tour card by August. Woad sits at 18 points and will have an opportunity to earn points at next week’s Amundi Evian Championship and the AIG Women’s Open. Players receive one LEAP point for a made cut at a major and two for a top-25 finish. If Woad doesn’t earn any points at the year’s final two majors, she will earn four when she earns the McCormack Medal as the top amateur in the world in August.

Despite her LET win, Woad has said she will remain an amateur until she has those 20 points under her belt. Once she has the 20 points needed to secure her card, she can either take up membership for this season and next and forgo her senior season at Florida State, or she can defer her membership for a year and join the LPGA Tour next season.

“No, I’m not tempted to turn pro yet,” Woad said on Sunday. “I’m still trying to get my final two points for the LPGA. I’m trying to get those and then we will see what happens after that.”

What happens after that is that Lottie Woad, top-ranked amateur and budding superstar, will arrive at a stage she seems destined to thrive on, and all signs point to her legend only continuing to grow once she does.