Lottie Woad is barely a year into being a pro, and she’s leading at a major championship for the first time.
Fittingly, the 22-year-old nearly won the Amundi Evian Championship a year ago — in her final start as an amateur — before winning the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open in her first start as a pro.
Now Woad is back at Evian Resort Golf Club and surpassed Round 1 leader Aki Iwai to lead by one after Friday’s second round.
“Feels great,” Woad said after a hot day on the course yielded her a 7-under 64. “I mean, she’ll probably catch me before I finish. She has some par 5s. I’ve got obviously nice memories from last year here. And I like the golf course, so I think that definitely helps.”
Iwai didn’t catch her after all.
Woad is 11 under heading into the weekend; Iwai, who led by five at one point before sliding back, is 10 under. The next closest players are Haeran Ryu, who won the KPMG Women’s PGA last month, and Mao Saigo at 8 under.
It’s another week and another chance to add to an already impressive resume in such a young career on the LPGA Tour.
Woad won the Kroger Queen City Championship in mid-May. She nearly did it again in mid-June at the Meijer LPGA Classic, when she missed a 2-footer to win outright and ended up losing to Miyu Yamashita in a playoff.
“I think trying to have that perspective that this is still kind of my rookie year, even though it’s not, has definitely helped me,” Woad said before the Women’s PGA, a week after the Meijer. “Obviously, last week kind of sucked. So just trying to remind myself that I’m still 22 and I’ve won twice already. If you told me that coming out of college this year, I would’ve bit your hand off for it.”
Woad ended up missing the cut at the Women’s PGA that week — her last start before Evian.
Notably missing the cut in France is world No. 1 Nelly Korda, who finished 1 over and one stroke off the even-par cutoff.
