Title: Woad Aims to Translate LPGA Momentum into US Open Success

Britain’s top-ranked female golfer, Lottie Woad, is striving to carry her recent LPGA success into this week’s Women’s US Open, held near Los Angeles. The 22-year-old English competitor arrives at the prestigious Riviera Country Club in peak form, having secured her first professional victory in the United States last month at the Kroger Queen City Classic in Cincinnati. That triumph elevated her to fifth in the world rankings and marks a significant milestone since she turned professional last summer, following her debut win at the Scottish Open.

Rather than resting on her laurels, Woad has taken immediate steps to prepare for what is traditionally the most prestigious event on the women’s golf calendar. She arranged for her coach, Luke Bone, to travel from his home base in Farnham, Surrey, to Florida to intensify her training regimen. In a strategic move, Woad opted out of last week’s Shoprite LPGA tournament in New Jersey, choosing instead to spend additional time on the driving range with Bone, a coach she has worked with since her junior days at Farnham Golf Club.

“We were just doing some work here in Tallahassee,” Woad explained to BBC Sport. “It was good, just kind of a little reset.”

She noted that her last interaction with Bone was during the Chevron Championship, the year’s first major in April, with him attending an event prior to that. “It was kind of nice to do some work away from the tournament,” she added. “He usually comes to the majors, but I decided I wanted to try him coming a week before. I'm still kind of working out what I like best. You know, I'm still very new to pro life. The US Open is a very hectic week and I feel like that you're limited to what you can actually get done on that week. So it's nice to go into it having done a lot of the work.”

Woad arrived early on the U.S. west coast to ensure she was fully acclimatized to the conditions, bolstered by the confidence gained from her recent victory in Ohio. The key to her success on May 17 was a self-identified issue with her equipment. During the Mizuho Americas Open earlier in the month, she missed the cut due to an uncharacteristically inconsistent putting performance, which puzzled her given her strong putting statistics for the year.

“My putting was pretty poor and I'd been putting pretty good this year,” Woad said. “OK, it could be me, it is probably is me, but, I thought I'll check the putter. The grip was just a tiny bit off, but obviously as golfers, we're pretty specific. So it was bugging me a little bit. I got it regripped and then, yeah, all good.”

Following the adjustment, Woad defeated a strong field, finishing two shots ahead of South Korea’s Haeran Ryu. Major champions Miyu Yamashita and Ruoning Yin trailed behind, while in-form Nelly Korda and former world number one Lydia Ko tied for eighth.

“I think it was probably a more important win for me than the first one,” Woad reflected. “The first one [in Scotland last July] was obviously amazing, but it all happened so quickly. I had just turned pro right before that one and then went off and played loads of events. I didn't really get time to reflect on it. I don't know how many events I've played now, but a lot more events, playing each week, travelling each week. Seeing the competition, seeing how good everyone is. I think to win again, to get the second one was more important for me.”

Despite her high ranking, the upcoming US Open will be Woad’s first appearance in the championship as a professional. However, she has already demonstrated strong potential in the sport’s five biggest events. As an amateur, she shared third place at the Evian Championship last July, narrowly missing the playoff won by Grace Kim. She followed this with a joint-eighth finish at the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl and a tie for seventh at the Chevron.

With her current trajectory, Woad is viewed as Britain’s strongest candidate to replicate the achievements of Dame Laura Davies (1987) and Alison Nicholas (1997), the only other UK winners of the U.S. Women’s Open. Yet, the rapid pace of her professional career has left her somewhat overwhelmed by her own progress.

“Professional life has been such a whirlwind that Woad does not readily recognise her encouraging form in the five biggest events on the women's calendar,” the report notes. “I kind of forgot,” she smiled. “They're...”

Source: BBC News Generated at: 2026-06-01 14:50:51 UTC