Until this Sunday, golf history recognized only two women as winners in their professional debuts. It’s such an extraordinary feat that both achieved it 71 years apart.
Rising LPGA Tour star Lottie Woad has just joined this exclusive list after her spectacular victory at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open. The Englishwoman won with a score of 21-under, three strokes ahead of major winner Hyo Joo Kim.
Woad once again defeated a field packed with world stars, something she did three weeks ago when she won the Women’s Irish Open on the Ladies European Tour, still playing as an amateur. In addition to Kim, major winners Sei Young Kim (3rd), Nelly Korda (5th), Ariya Jutanugarn (T8), and Minjee Lee (T21), among others, were present at the Dundonald Links.
The former World No. 1 amateur carded four birdies and a bogey on Sunday to extend her lead from the previous round. Woad was in contention from the very start, finishing second in the first round after a card of 67 and taking the lead a day later when she added a 65. She took a two-stroke lead after a 67 on Saturday.
Further evidence of her superiority over the weekend is that she was the only player in the field with scores in the 60s during each of the four rounds.
“It’s a pretty good outcome,” Woad said after her win, according to BBC. “I definitely wasn’t expecting to win but knew I was playing well and just hoping to contend. There’s not many scoreboards out there, but I knew it was probably quite tight at one stage.”
Woad thus joins Beverly Hanson and Rose Zhang as the only female players to win in their professional debuts.
Hanson did so at the 1951 Eastern Open, defeating the legendary Babe Didrikson Zaharias. It was the start of an illustrious career of 17 LPGA Tour victories, including three major championships.
Seventy-one years later, Rose Zhang followed in her footsteps by winning the 2023 Mizuho Americas Open. Like Hanson and Woad, Zhang had a distinguished amateur career. She reached the No. 1 amateur ranking in the world and won all the major titles in that category.
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