Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – England’s Lottie Woad held her nerve to clinch a two-shot victory at the LPGA Queen City Championship in Ohio on Sunday, firing a one-under-par 69 to capture her first tour win on US soil. The 22-year-old rising star from Surrey had taken a grip on the tournament with a scintillating five-under-par 65 on Saturday that gave her a three-shot lead heading into Sunday’s final round at Maketwah Country Club in Cincinnati.
Woad got off to a dream start, with two birdies in her opening five holes to drop to 13 under, before a double-bogey on the sixth checked her progress. However, she hit back with a bogey on the next hole and then completed the back nine at level par to clinch her second LPGA Tour title after her victory at the Scottish Open last July. Her closing 69 left her on 12 under for the tournament with an aggregate 268, two shots clear of South Korea’s Ryu Hae-ran, who finished on 10 under after a three-under-par 67 final round.
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The victory was the latest stop on what has been a meteoric rise for Woad, who this time last year was preparing to play in the US collegiate championship before breaking through with a maiden LPGA win in Scotland two months later. “This one is definitely a little sweeter than the first one because I wasn’t really expecting it,” Woad said. “This one I’ve seen how good everyone is out there, so it’s good to win again. I just played pretty good tee-to-green. I hit a lot of greens, hit a lot of fairways. And it’s pretty windy out there, so I think that was the key obviously to having the lead.”
Japan’s Miyi Yamashita finished third on nine under after running out of holes in a dazzling six-under-par 64. The 24-year-old from Osaka’s round included a run of four straight birdies to finish, but it was not enough to pull her closer to Woad on the leaderboard. “It’s been a while since I had a good score like this, and the wind was strong but I was able to play with a really good feeling throughout the round,” Yamashita said.
China’s Yin Ruoning was four shots off the lead on eight under after carding a four-under-par 66, one shot ahead of Amanda Doherty of the United States and South Korea’s Ko Jin-Young, who tied for fifth place on seven under.
© 2024 AFP
