History suggests caution is advisable when assessing female golf phenoms. Michelle Wie won just a single major. Charley Hull has reached the age of 29 while scaling golfing heights, but it is fair to say wild excitement about her career when a teenage amateur has not been borne out by subsequent results. For a multitude of reasons, promise can outweigh reality.<\/p>\n
If it were at all her style \u2013 and it is not \u2013 Lottie Woad could claim to have already justified the hype. Winning last year\u2019s Augusta National Women\u2019s Amateur was a statement of intent. Recent weeks have been rocket-fuelled for the 21-year-old; Woad won the Irish Open and challenged for the Evian Championship while still an amateur. One professional start, at the Scottish Open, saw Woad lift the trophy on Sunday. She is the name on everyone\u2019s lips as the Women\u2019s Open lands at the glorious links of Royal Porthcawl,Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s playing great golf,\u201d said Lydia Ko, the defending champion<\/a>, of Woad. \u201cI\u2019ve seen her swing. My coach has sent me a video of her swing as well because there\u2019s aspects that I\u2019m kind of going for that she has.\u201d<\/p>\n High praise. There was more, lots of it. \u201cI think what Lottie Woad has done is absolutely unbelievable,\u201d said Hull. \u201cI played with her in the practice rounds in Ireland and in the first two rounds last week. At the minute I feel like she\u2019s playing with such confidence she can\u2019t miss a shot. I think it\u2019s great to see. She\u2019s a breath of fresh air for the game. I\u2019m actually really proud of Lottie for what she\u2019s done. That\u2019s like goosebumps kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Hull\u2019s own buildup has been beset by illness<\/a> and a back injury. \u201cI\u2019m not hitting it the best, which is very frustrating because it\u2019s an event I\u2019ve been looking forward to playing all year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Woad will have Ko and Lilia Vu for company in the marquee grouping for days one and two. \u201cI don\u2019t feel too different, to be honest,\u201d Woad said. \u201cI got a lot of confidence from the last month, really. I am just trying to continue to ride that. There\u2019s always pressure. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any more than there was, like from my perspective, before any of the last few weeks. I was still wanting to contend and that\u2019s still the aim.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Scottie Scheffler, who is dominating the male game<\/a>, Woad will not talk in headlines. Like the American, Woad\u2019s swing can be unorthodox. She has something in common with another icon of this sport; Woad is managed by the same agency as Tiger Woods.<\/p>\n She serves as the latest example of how the American college circuit prepares golfers for life as a professional. The Surrey athlete excelled at Florida State University amid a rise to the summit of the amateur world rankings. \u201cShe\u2019s been in a lot of those kind of tougher moments,\u201d Ko added. \u201cObviously it\u2019s different than being an amateur and playing collegiate golf to as a pro, but I think she\u2019s been there and done really well in those pressure conditions no matter what kind of environment she\u2019s been in. So I think there\u2019s a little bit more experience under her belt than what people probably give her credit for.<\/p>\n Lottie Woad won the Scottish Open by six shots on Sunday. Photograph: Steve Welsh\/PA<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I\u2019ve seen the coverage or how she composes herself, she doesn\u2019t seem like she rushes into things or gets like overly emotional. I\u2019m sure that\u2019s going to help her with that transition as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Ko\u2019s analysis is valid. Woad\u2019s greatest strength is appearing totally unflustered when placed in tricky golfing scenarios. Her display of front-running at Dundonald Links on Sunday made a mockery of supposed rookie status. In Ireland, she won by six shots.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend\u2019s action<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cAbsolutely amazing,\u201d said the world No 1, Nelly Korda, in adding to the chorus of commendation for Woad. \u201cI was very impressed with her composure, her process [in Scotland]. When it comes to her shot routine, especially under pressure and in the heat of the moment, sometimes people seem to fidget and kind of doubt themselves but she stuck to it, she\u00a0stuck to her process every single time. I think one of the main things that I noticed is how mature she is for her age and how comfortable she was in the heat of the moment.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see that she\u2019s put a ton of hours in. Her putting is very solid, her game\u2019s solid, she hits it pretty far off the tee. She grew up in this kind of weather too, so I feel like she\u2019s kind of comfortable.\u201d It would seem a shock if Woad is not in Porthcawl contention.<\/p>\n The R&A has increased the prize fund for this major, by $250,000 to $9.75m (\u00a37.3m), with the winner collecting $1.4m. The male equivalent had its purse frozen for 2025. The scale of growth in the Women\u2019s Open is shown by the fact golfers were competing for $3.25m as recently as 2018. It was confirmed on Wednesday that the 2027 edition of the tournament will take place at Royal St George\u2019s, which has staged the men\u2019s Open 15 times.<\/p>\n A rare stop for elite golf in Wales has seen players assess the local culture. \u201cWhen I drove from Scotland after I missed the cut last week, I saw all the road signs,\u201d said Grace Kim. \u201cIt went from English to, not in a rude way, like gibberish.\u201d Ouch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"History suggests caution is advisable when assessing female golf phenoms. Michelle Wie won just a single major. 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