IRVINE, Scotland — Lottie Woad of England performed bogey-free Friday and took benefit of unusually calm situations towards the tip to put up a 7-under 65, giving the English star a two-shot lead over top-ranked Nelly Korda and Nanna Koerstz Madsen within the Girls’s Scottish Open.
Woad is making her skilled debut, which solely means she will get paid on the finish of the week. She appears no completely different from the final couple of weeks, when she received the Girls’s Irish Open after which tied for third within the LPGA main in France on the Evian Championship.
Korda birdied her final two holes for a 66 to get to inside two pictures, hopeful she is trending in the precise course as she goes for her first win of the season. Koerstz Madsen additionally shot 66.
Woad, who performed her school golf at Florida State, was at 12-under 132 after spending two days earlier than the biggest crowd at Dundonald Hyperlinks, enjoying in the identical group as Korda and Charley Hull of England.
Woad’s end on the Evian Championship earned her an LPGA card, prompting her to show professional. The Girls’s Scottish Open felt no completely different from her different July occasions. It was all about attempting to trip the momentum.
She dismissed the notion that she has began her professional profession by taking a 36-hole lead in a match co-sanctioned by the LPGA and the Girls European Tour.
“I performed in seven majors now, so I’ve had all that have, and clearly the LET occasions, too,” Woad mentioned. “So wasn’t actually new issues I assume. Sort of knew how you can take care of it.”
She has missed solely two greens every of the final two rounds on the hyperlinks course simply to the north of Royal Troon on the Ayrshire coast. It is a robust discipline with the ultimate main of the yr, the Girls’s British Open, subsequent week at Royal Porthcawl in Wales.
The largest assist was the wind, or lack of it. The breeze gave solution to calm situations, and Woad ran off 4 birdies on the again to grab management.
Korda, winless after a seven-victory season in 2024, made her lone mistake with a bogey on the par-5 18th as she made the flip. She dealt with the calm situations on the entrance 9 to get within the ultimate group.
“Apparently this isn’t actually Scottish climate. It is fairly smooth, so I have been listening to this isn’t the everyday climate and course they often play out right here,” Korda mentioned. “However general, once you get good rounds underneath your belt, that is at all times a step in the precise course. My important focus is that this week. I am attempting to complete as greatest as I probably can.”
Sei Young Kim had a 67 and was three pictures behind, adopted by Hyo Joo Kim (66) who was 4 pictures off the tempo.
