Lottie Woad: Golf's silent assassin can become next female sporting superstar after dream debut
Lottie Woad produced a stunning start to life as a professional after winning the Scottish Open in her first start since turning over from amateur, becoming just the third player in LPGA history to do so; Watch the AIG Women's Open live on Thursday from midday on Sky Sports Golf
Tuesday 29 July 2025 06:53, UK
That dreaded, awkward first week at work. The aura-sapping job of setting up your new laptop, the clueless search for the kitchen facilities, the wave of amnesia that hits while trying to remember names, the clicking through 50 tabs to try and look busy when you have nothing to do.
You feel a little useless. Your fresh enthusiasm and newly-purchased outfit sticks out like a sore thumb beside seasoned, management-lamenting old-timers who know the vending machine quirk that gives you two items if you select D3.
Or you can be a Lottie Woad. Show up, barely utter a word, create an ominous notion of mystery, and take over the place.
"I guess that's a pretty good first week at work," Woad said on X. "Really happy to win the ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open! Thank you to everyone for an amazing week!"
- ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open leaderboard [external]
- When are the majors? Key dates and 2025 schedule 🔎
- Got Sky? Watch the LPGA Tour on the Sky Sports app 📱
- Not got Sky? Stream golf and more sport with no contract 📺
Sure, it wasn't really Woad's first week on the job, but it was the first week in which she has been paid prize money for said job. As the internship ended, the real work began as Woad stormed to ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open victory to become just the third player in LPGA Tour history to win on her professional debut.
Rose Zhang was the last to achieve the feat when she triumphed at the 2023 Mizuho Americas Open, and before then Beverly Hanson had won on her professional debut back in 1951.
"She's not scared to play among the big names, she can do it all, her results would suggest she is an absolute lock for a star of the future," Dame Laura Davies told Sky Sports last week.
No sleep lost...
With it came the official unveiling of female golf and sport's newest superstar, whose billing is a walk-in-the-park demeanour as she navigates the most pressurised moments inside the ropes. There is much to be said these days for the softly-spoken powerhouses; in Woad's male equivalent, Scottie Scheffler reigns supreme as the least-animated champion of his sport on the planet. In an era of sporting theatre and romanticism, she is the latest stone-cold gem who cares little for the spotlight.
As Woad stroked in her final putt on Sunday she barely afforded herself a smile, as if a storied veteran immune to the ecstasy. The winning grin did eventually appear as she celebrated with her family, but there was a chilling ease at which she processed a dream start to life as a professional. As much should serve as a warning to those around her that the pursuit of dominance is just getting started.
Golfers will speak of the sleepless nights that beckon when holding a lead in a tournament, particularly heading into a Sunday, at which point Woad was in front by two.
And yet, the 21-year-old, such has become an early running theme, was unfazed.
"Slept fine, yeah," she laughed.
Victory earned her $300,000 having recently had to forfeit significant chunks of prize money while still competing as an amateur. Woad arrived in Scotland having won the Ladies European Tour's KPMG Women's Irish Open by six shots, before tying for third at the Amundi Evian Championship, where at one stage she had been a clubhouse leader while securing the final point in the LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway to earn her LPGA card.
"There's no real weakness to her game," Two-time Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew told Sky Sports. "She drives the ball well, has a good short game. She has really good iron play and her putting, I remember watching her a couple of years ago at the Augusta National Women's Amateur and she birdied the three of the last four holes, holing some really clutch putts and that really impressed me at the time.
"She seems to be one of these players who can hole the putts when she has to."
'The one everybody is watching'
The professional stage had been awaiting Woad's arrival as she put the golfing world on alert throughout a glittering amateur career. Her name first floated onto the radar in May 2022 when she made her debut on the Ladies European Tour in a 10th-placed finish at the Madrid Open, before enrolling at Florida State where she would become WGCA Freshman of the Year, a junior FSU Female Athlete of the Year and ACC Golfer of the Year after enrolling in 2022.
She continued her rise in April 2024 by winning the Augusta National Women's Amateur after birdying the 15th, 17th and 18th having needed to play the final five holes in two-under to regain a share of the lead before eventually holding off Bailey Shoemaker by one.
Woad later claimed the No 1 spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and became the first English woman to win the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the leading amateur in the world.
To those within golf, she was no secret. But with Woad comes the prospect of another defining talent for the landscape of women's sport.
"I would say she is going in (to the British Open) as one of the favourites," Matthew added. "Coming into this last major she has to be put there with Nelly Korda, Lydia Ko, Jeeno Thitikul.
"Lottie is the one, with coming out doing what she's done she'll be the one everybody is watching."
Woad's 'nice' week at work
Woad, who played football at Southampton FC's Centre of Excellence as a child, is now gearing up for her second appearance at the Women's British Open, newly-crowned and primed to rustle the feathers of the world's best once more.
Suddenly the likes of Korda, Ko and Thitikul have a new problem with which to contend.
"I don't think she realises what she's doing, or she's just as chilled as a cucumber," Ladies European Tour player Annabel Dimmock told Sky Sports Golf.
"It's amazing that it just seems like a day job, it just looks like an easy day at work for her.
"Thank god I've got the pregnancy excuse at the minute. There are no weaknesses, she looks one of the most mentally strong, calmest, composed, experienced, compared to players who have been on tour for years."
Golf can and will get used to Woad underplaying her achievements, her relaxed and self-effacing making for a fascinating layer to upper echelon talent. She is anti-fuss.
"I think it's quite hard to do that, but very special to win in my first event," said Woad on Sunday. "You know, everyone was chasing me today, and I managed to maintain the lead and played really nicely down the stretch and hit a lot of good shots, which is nice."
A 'nice' week at work for some might be free cake or an early Friday session. 'Nice' weeks at work are about to look a whole lot different for Lottie Woad, not to mention of increasing regularity.
There is a new silent assassin in play.
Who will win the AIG Women's Open? Watch throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage from the opening round begins on Thursday from midday on Sky Sports Golf. Not got Sky? Stream the women's majors and more with no contract.
