Championships

Wonderful Woad wins Girls’ Amateur

The R&A

14 Aug 22

3 mins

Lottie Woad was crowned R&A Girls’ Amateur Champion on a historic day at Carnoustie.

In the 36-hole final, England’s Woad defeated Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio from Spain 7&6 to win the 93rd Girls’ Amateur Championship. Impressively, Woad was six-under-par for her 12 holes in the afternoon session to ease to victory. It was a day for the history books over the famous Angus links as the Girls’ and Boys’ Amateur finals were played alongside each other for the first time. In another first, both finals were also live streamed on The R&A’s website at www.randa.org as well as on The R&A YouTube channel.

Major achievement

Woad, 18, a member of Farnham in Surrey, joins a winners’ list that includes major champions Georgia Hall and Anna Nordqvist and, more recently, Pia Babnik, already a two-time winner on the Ladies’ European Tour. Woad follows the last English winner, Lily May Humphreys, in 2017. “I thought it was going to be close after the morning round, but I got a few good birdies and holed some putts to give me some more breathing room this afternoon,” said Woad. “I didn’t really miss a fairway in both rounds and was hitting approach shots close to make the putts. “We both played well so it perhaps looks a bigger win than it was, as we did exchange birdies. There was no real wind so it was perfect. It’s amazing to add my name to the trophy, I can’t believe it – it’s great.”

Open venue

The conclusion to the Girls’ Amateur, played over an Open venue for the first time this week, began in overcast conditions with little breeze. But Woad and Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, both ranked inside the top 100 in the world, were soon shining on the links. Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, 17, made the first move in the morning round, winning the 4th with a birdie three. Woad’s excellent eagle three drew her back level at the 6th and a lovely birdie at the short 8th took her to one up.

Lottie Woad (pictured left), winner of the Sir Henry Cooper Junior Masters this year, was one of four English players to make the quarter-final stages along with friend Rachel Gourley. She was the last one standing at Carnoustie on Sunday.

In-form Woad

The English girl – winner of the Sir Henry Cooper Masters this year and a victor with England women at the European Ladies’ Team Championship and the Home Internationals – cemented her lead at the par-3 13th when a poor chip from Garcia-Poggio from behind the green left her with too much to do. Woad maintained her steady play finding fairways and greens and matched her Spanish opponent’s birdie four on the 14th to stay two up. A cold putter wasn’t helping Garcia-Poggio and she narrowly missed birdie putts on the closing three holes which might have reduced the deficit as Woad stayed two up going into the afternoon round. Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, the Spanish Ladies’ Amateur winner this year, bogeyed the 19th to allow Woad to go three ahead but her birdie at the 21st clawed one back. Woad, though, then produced a brilliant run of three birdies in-a-row from the 22nd thanks to brilliant approach play and moved to four up after the 24th. The Spaniard found trouble with a bad lie in the fairway bunker on the 27th and Woad moved a commanding five up. The England internationalist, who plays off +7, finished in style with three straight birdies from the 28th.

Winning exemptions

Woad secures exemptions into the Women’s Amateur Championship, the US Girls’ Junior, subject to age eligibility, AIG Women’s Open Final Qualifying and, by tradition, an invitation to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Woad added, “Winning the gold medal at the Europeans with England was the highlight of my career but this might top it now. It’s been a good year, with a busy run of events. I’m glad to finish it off with victory in I think my last junior event. “I wasn’t really thinking about the exemptions to come now, more focusing on the match play, but it’s all good. My dad has been here the whole week and we’ve got family in Edinburgh who came to support me too.” The Girls' and Boys' Amateur championships are supported by EventScotland. Ganton will host match play for both championships in 2023 with Fulford and York hosting stroke play qualifying. View final scoring and more information at www.randa.org.