Top-ranked amateur opens seven-stroke lead in bid to win pro event

England’s Lottie Woad already has established herself as the world’s best woman amateur, but now she has moved to the brink of solidifying her standing as a future professional star.

Woad, 21 and a senior-to-be at Florida State, opened a seven-stroke lead through three rounds of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open in a bid to do what Lydia Ko, then 16, accomplished in the 2013 New Zealand Open (co-sanctioned by the LET), winning on the tour as an amateur.

In the third round at the Carton House Golf Club in Ireland, Woad posted a second straight six-under 67, this one bogey free, and has completed 54 holes in 17-under 202, five clear of Madeline Sagstrom of Sweden.

“I’m very happy with that,” Woad told the LET. “I was trying to extend the lead today if possible and keep playing how I was playing the previous days. Everything went pretty well. The front nine I played really nicely and was stress-free, the back nine I had to make a few par-saves, but I chipped in pretty well and made some up-and-downs, which kept the momentum.

“I want to win it. I’m going to keep playing my game and see where it puts me and keep playing well. I think you can still be pretty aggressive on this golf course. I will definitely be aggressive because there’s a score out there and I don’t want to play too conservative.”

Woad won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2024 and finished third this year. She also tied for 10th in the AIG Women’s Open on the Old Course at St. Andrews in 2024.

The last amateur to win an LET event was Jana Melichova at the 2022 Tipsport Czech Ladies Open.