Confident, composed, comfortable: Open favorite Lottie Woad has everybody else on notice

NBC Sports

4 days ago

Lottie Woad is unconcerned with her odds ahead of this week's AIG Women's Open – odds that, for the record, aren't just pretty good but better than anybody else in the field at Royal Porthcawl in Wales.
At +750, Woad is the favorite, just ahead of the top two players in the world, Nelly Korda and Jeeno Thitikul, who are each +900. No other player is better than +1600.
'I don't know how they do it, but I feel like I'm playing well, so I guess I was going to be one of the favorites,' Woad said Tuesday. 'Obviously, everyone's so good, so I feel like anyone can win really. You've seen it this year – I think every winner has been different, so there's many people it could be.'
But only one player has won two of their past three tournaments. For Woad, it started earlier this month when she cruised to victory at the KPMG Women's Irish Open. She then contended at the Amundi Evian Championship in her final start as an amateur before settling for a share of third, a shot out of a playoff. And then last week, Woad took down Korda and other top names to win in her professional debut at the ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open.
With Woad already up to No. 24 in the world rankings, others are already taking notice.
'Absolutely amazing,' said Korda, who played alongside Woad for two days in Scotland. 'I was very impressed with her composure, her process. I think, when it comes to her shot routine, especially under pressure and in the heat of the moment, sometimes people seem to fidget and kind of doubt themselves, but she stuck to it, she stuck to her process every single time, and I think that's one of the main things that I noticed is how mature she is for her age and how comfortable she was in the heat of the moment.'
Added Korda: 'Golf is a game of confidence, and she's definitely high up there right now, so she's going to be trusting everything. ... I think she's also riding a confidence high too with how well she's playing.'
And Lydia Ko, who shares a management company with Woad, Excel Sports: 'I think there's a little bit more experience under her belt than what people probably give her credit for. But when I've seen the coverage or how she composes herself, she doesn't seem like she rushes into things or gets like overly emotional. I'm sure that's going to help her with that transition as well.'
Confident, yet unassuming. Woad reckoned she'd use some of her winnings from last week to purchase her first car. The 21-year-old still doesn't have her license, though she'd planned to use Florida State head coach Amy Bond's car to take her driving test when she returned stateside. Surely, Woad will ace that, too.
The moment just doesn't seem to get to her, even now.
'There's always pressure obviously,' Woad said, 'but I don't think there's any more than there was, like from my perspective, before any of the last few weeks.'
That pressure is arguably on everybody else.