The coronation went without any blips. In Lottie Woad’s world of finding fairways, hitting greens-in-regulation and sinking putts, the final round of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open saw the ultra-talented 21-year-old English amateur stride to an impressive win at the O’Meara Course on the outskirts of Maynooth over a field sprinkled with stardust, consisting of Solheim Cup players and LPGA Tour and LET winners.
Woad’s time in the amateur ranks – even with a year yet to go of college at Florida State – would seem numbered, with that pathway to the LPGA Tour opened for her. The win also offers up the prospect of LET membership, if and when she wants it, so that her addition to next year’s European Solheim Cup team in the Netherlands would be probable.
For now, Woad’s brilliance was evident in winning a professional tournament as an amateur. Lydia Ko did it on the LPGA Tour when winning the Canadian Open. Most recently, Czech player Jana Melichová did so on the LET when winning the Czech Open in 2022.
Woad’s final-round 69 for a total of 21-under-par 271 gave her a six strokes winning margin over Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom. As an amateur, Woad couldn’t take home the winner’s cheque for €67,500, which instead went to Sagstrom.
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On a day in which intermittent bursts of heavy rain mixed with outbreaks of sunshine caused players to put on and take off weatherproofs at regular intervals, Woad was consistency personified with a round of six birdies and two bogeys ensuring those in pursuit were kept at arm’s length.
Woad has upcoming Major assignments in the Evian and the AIG Women’s Open in her position as world amateur number one. Her ‘Hello World’ moment on turning professional surely awaits sooner rather than later.
“I’m still trying to get my final two points for the LPGA, so just trying to get those. And then we’ll, we’ll see what happens after that,” said a non-committal Woad.
For LET rookie Anna Foster, it proved to be another fruitful week on tour as the 23-year-old Dubliner backed up a top-five in the German Masters with a top-15 here as a final round 72 for a total of eight-under-par 284 in tied-12th gave her the distinction of being the leading home player. Even at this stage of the season, it enabled her to wrap up her card again for next season, the result moving her up to 28th on the season’s order of merit.
Foster, less than a year since turning professional following a fine collegiate career with Auburn, has found her feet quickly and smoothly since earning her LET card at Q-school.
“I’m really happy with the week, really proud of myself. I’m happy with the week in general, with how I dealt with the pressure at the beginning of the week and managed to kind of just keep in the present and focus on what I needed to,” said Foster, who is not in the field for next week’s Evian Championship so can recharge the batteries and reset her targets before heading to final qualifying for next month’s AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl.
And the intention is to stay focused on the LET rather than be tempted – not yet at any rate – to try for an LPGA Tour card.
“I’m really happy with where I am on the LET. I recall a nugget from Pádraig Harrington, where he said ‘it’s great to be a big fish in a little pond first’ before you decide to kind of jump to the LPGA. Where I am now, I’m really happy, and I want to be up near the top of the leaderboard [in tournaments]. The LET is really strong, and it’s a great place to play. So I’m not currently going to go [for LPGA Tour status] this year, like maybe next year, depending how I feel. Enjoyment is the main thing for me.”
Foster was the leading home player in tied-12th with Canice Screene shooting a superb final round 66 for 290 in tied-37th and Leona Maguire in tied-48th. Elm Park amateur Emma Fleming shot a final round 76 for 295 in tied-54th.
Maguire’s exhausting schedule appeared to catch up with her, after a three-week stint on the LPGA Tour – which took in the Meijer Classic, KPMG Women’s PGA and the Dow Championship – before the transatlantic flight back home where she also had corporate commitments outside of the ropes.
“It’s demanding. If this wasn’t the Irish Open, I wouldn’t have played this week, it would have been nice to have a week off before for Evian. But, I mean, we’re lucky to do what we do and get to travel the world and everything that comes with it. I tried my best this week, it wasn’t good enough,” said Maguire.
A final round 75 for 292 in tied-48th had Maguire further off the pace than she’d had wished for, although she sought to take positives away ahead of moving on to the Evian Championship in France, the fourth women’s Major of the year, for what will be her fifth event in a row and seventh in eight weeks.
“There were sparks of it this week, some patches of really nice golf, and then there was a lot of tired golf in there. We’ll take the positives from this week and try and bring as much of that into next week as best we can,” added Maguire.
