Lottie Woad returns to Dundonald Links one year after her breakout win, now armed with two LPGA titles, eight more top-10s and even bigger expectations.
Lottie Woad returns to the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open this week, but she’s not coming back as a wide-eyed rookie anymore.
She’s returning as a proven winner, a rising LPGA star and a player the rest of the field can’t afford to overlook.
Dundonald Links is where Woad’s professional career exploded into life in 2025. Making her first start as an LPGA Tour member, the English standout opened with rounds of 67, 65 and 67 before closing with a 68.
Her 19-under total secured a three-shot victory over Nelly Korda and Hyo Joo Kim.
Not bad for a debut.
Woad was just 21 when she walked off the 18th green with her first LPGA title.
She also became only the second player in three years to win in her first professional start, following Rose Zhang’s 2023 victory at the Mizuho Americas Open.
What looked like a dream week has turned into something much bigger.
Over the past 12 months, Woad has added another LPGA victory at the 2026 Kroger Queen City Championship, lost in a playoff at the Meijer LPGA Classic and piled up eight additional top-10 finishes.
The sample size is no longer small. The hype is no longer theoretical.
She’s the real thing.
That shouldn’t surprise anyone who followed her amateur career. Woad won five individual college titles at Florida State, spent 55 weeks ranked No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and captured the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
She also became the first golfer to earn LPGA membership through the Elite Amateur Pathway after reaching the required 20 points.
Now she gets to revisit the place where her professional chapter began.
Woad will open this year’s tournament alongside Korda and Charley Hull, the same pairing she had during her championship run in 2025.
It’s a familiar setup, but the pressure is completely different. Last year, she had nothing to lose. This year, she has a title to defend and a growing reputation to protect.
That’s the scary part for the field.
Woad admits she didn’t fully understand the magnitude of her first victory at the time. She does now.
After a year filled with travel, pressure, victories and near-misses, she returns to Scotland more experienced, more dangerous and far less surprised by success.
The gummy bears may still be sweet. But Lottie Woad’s game has developed some serious bite.
