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USA Today
a day ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
From Montecarlo to Rome, LPGA players slayed their vacations, including three engagements
The LPGA had an off week between events in France and Scotland, giving players the rare chance to unplug from the tour grind and enjoy the sights. Lauren Coughlin, defending champion at this week's ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open, went home to Sweden with Maja Stark to unwind before a two-week stretch in the United Kingdom that culminates with the season's final major in Wales. Last year, the two friends squared off against each other in a Solheim Cup singles match that was so tight they halved. "Had a lot of fun," said Coughlin of staying with Stark's family in the tiny town of Abbekas. "Played a couple rounds of golf in Sweden, and got to experience sailing and her kind of small village that she lives in, so it was very cool." Japan's Yuri Yoshida toured Belgium while the Jutanugarn sisters enjoyed the Swiss Alps with their mom. Several players even got engaged. Yealimi Noh, who began 2025 with her first career LPGA victory at the Founders Cup, will no doubt tee it up in this week's Scottish with a bright smile on her face after getting engaged to Jackson Suh. Noh wasn't alone in having a life-changing moment last week. Gigi Stoll proposed to her partner in stunning Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. Former AIG Women's British Open winner Georgia Hall announced her engagement to Paul Dunne, a former winner on the DP World Tour who has caddied for her on the LPGA. The couple posted a photograph from Gleneagles. Meanwhile, Andrea Lee spent the week in Bordeaux after taking a share of fifth at Evian, her fourth career top-10 in a major. Cassie Porter stayed in France for a family vacation, taking an epic photo in front of the Eiffel Tower. Nanna Koerstz Madsen spent time in Rome, touring the Colosseum. Madelene Sagstrom went home to Sweden to spend time with her family doing her absolute favorite thing: picking mushrooms in the forest. Rookie Rio Takeda took in the sights in Paris and London. Former No. 1 Jin Young Ko turned 30 last week at Evian and then kept the good vibes going in Montecarlo.
USA Today
6 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Who will be the next amateur to earn an LPGA card through LEAP? The next month is crucial
Lottie Woad became the first amateur to graduate from the tour's new LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway (LEAP) program and will make her pro debut next week in Scotland. So, who's next? The LPGA designed the program with the idea that only amateurs with exceptional records would reach the threshold of 20 points. Last November, when the tour outlined the new program to its membership, officials noted that in the past 12 years, Lydia Ko, Leona Maguire and Rose Zhang were the only players who would've earned enough points to qualify for a card. The LPGA didn't want this to necessarily be an annual thing – more like every three to four years. Before Woad won the 2024 Augusta National Women's Amateur, she had only one LEAP point from the 2023 Arnold Palmer Cup. She earned two points with the ANWA victory and that came with a host of major championship starts, which Woad took advantage of with top-25 finishes in the 2024 Chevron Championship and 2024 AIG Women's British Open. When she reached No. 1 amateur in the world, she earned another three points, and the 2024 Mark H. McCormack Medal garnered another four. In all, Woad earned 19 points in the span of 15 months. Woad turned professional this week, which means she'll drop off the rankings, as former No. 2 Mirabel Ting did after making her pro debut last week at Evian. The next month is crucial for accumulating points as the McCormack Medal will be decided after the U.S. Women's Amateur at Bandon Dunes, which ends Aug. 10. The medal comes with four points and exemptions into the U.S. Women's Open and AIG Women's British Open. A player could reach No. 1 for the first time and win the medal in short order, taking a total of seven LEAP points. Winning the U.S. Women's Amateur earns two points and a chance to play in four majors. Oregon's Kiara Romera currently ranks No. 2 in WAGR, but it's worth noting that her 2023 U.S. Girls' Junior title will soon roll off the two-year window. Two Spanish players who play for Stanford – Andrea Revuelta Goicoechea and Paula Martin Sampedro – are Nos. 3 and 4, respectively. Martin Sampedro has an exemption into the Women's British at Royal Portrush for her win at the 2025 Women's British Amateur. As for the current LEAP standings, Anna Davis now leads the way with nine points. Maria Jose Marin is second with eight and Jasmine Koo has seven. Kiara Romero, Rachel Heck (who has no intent on turning pro) and Catherine Park have six points. The window for earning LEAP points is any given year, plus the previous three calendar years.
USA Today
16-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Gina Kim won her third Epson Tour title. Here's why she won't be promoted to the LPGA
On the same day amateur Lottie Woad made her leap onto the LPGA, Gina Kim won for a third time on the Epson Tour this season. In the past, that would've garnered Kim a midseason LPGA card. But the Epson Tour's so-called "battlefield promotion" went away after the 2018 season. Because players weren't getting many LPGA starts through the promotion, the tour felt it was somewhat of a false promise. Woad, who officially accepted her card earlier this week, slides into the Category 13 spot on the LPGA Priority List, behind players who finished Nos. 81 to 100 on the previous season CME points list and ahead of those who have reshuffled in 2025. The Englishwoman, who finished in a share of third at Evian, earned a spot in next week's ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open by virtue of her recent win on the LET in Ireland. She's in the AIG Women's British Open field based on her top-10 finish last year at St. Andrews. Woad's LEAP card then gets her into the next five LPGA events – starting in Portland – where she'll have a chance to play her way into the limited-field Asian swing. Why can't three-time Epson Tour winners have that same opportunity? There might even be an argument for those players moving to a higher category than 13. Three-time winners aren't unusual on the development circuit. Since the rule changed, five players have won three times in a single season. Dating back to 2010, 11 players have done it. That list includes Cindy LaCrosse, Marissa Steen, Annie Park, Madelene Sagstrom, Nanna Koerstz Madsen, Hannah Green, Ruixin Liu, Patty Tavatanakit, Lilia Vu and Gabriela Ruffels. The PGA Tour offers what it calls a three-victory promotion through the Korn Ferry Tour. Only 13 players have accomplished the feat since 1997, with Matt McCarty being the latest in 2024. Kim, a 25 year-old Duke grad, won wire-to-wire at the Hartford HealthCare Women's Championship to move into the No. 1 spot in the Race for the Card ranking. There are eight events left on the Epson Tour schedule.
USA Today
15-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Top amateur Lottie Woad will make pro debut at next week's Scottish Open
A post shared by Lottie Woad (@lottie_woad) Two days after Lottie Woad nearly won an LPGA major, she turned professional. As the first graduate of the new LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway (LEAP) program, she heads to the tour with a full card in hand for the rest of 2025 and all of 2026, and will make her pro debut at next week's ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open followed by the AIG Women's British Open at Royal Porthcawl in Wales. She also accepted LET membership following her emphatic win at the KPMG Women's Irish Open. Woad, 21, has a propensity for rising to the occasion. With victories at Augusta National, Carnoustie, Baltustrol and a top-10 finish at the British Open at St. Andrews, the shy Woad has a flair for the dramatic on the biggest, toughest stages. Known for her tireless work ethic and complete game, when it comes to Woad's success at the next level, there's one intangible that cannot be underestimated: Her undying love of the game. 'More so than probably anybody I've ever seen,' said FSU coach Amy Bond, who describes her star player's golf IQ as through the roof. Lottie Woad is in it to be the best Woad isn't playing to please her parents, Rachel and Nick. She's not in it for the money, though she does need to buy a car when she gets back to America. The external praise? Woad turns shy even when kids approach her at dinner for an autograph. She's humble that way. Sure, Woad has opened up more to the idea of media attention since she won the 2024 Augusta National Women's Amateur, but she's not looking for validation there either. Woad wants to be the best, and she loves everything about the grind to get there. 'It's so obvious that something inside of her is driven by this,' said Luke Bone, Woad's swing instructor since age 7. 'That pressure is hers and hers alone.' Woad first rose to No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking in June 2024. Her 70.42 career scoring average after three seasons at Florida State sets a school record. A five-time winner at FSU, Woad's 27 top-10 finishes sets another record, highlighting her consistent play. She won at Augusta National with birdies on three of the last four holes, and in seven LPGA major championship appearances, has finished in the top 35 on four occasions. 'I've always loved being under pressure and under the gun,' she told Golfweek, calling the experience of those majors invaluable. Lottie Woad called her shot at Evian Woad arrived back home in England at 2 a.m. Monday morning after a wild finish in France. While sitting at Evian's famed beer garden on Saturday afternoon, Woad told her team she thought she could shoot 30 on the front nine. 'By golly, did she shoot 30,' said Bond, who was desperate to keep track while on a plane headed back to the U.S. Trailing by five going into the final round, Woad needed to finish in the top 25 to secure her LPGA card, but that wasn't top of mind. She put the pedal down just as she'd done the week before on the LET, when she won by six at the Irish Open. Seven birdies in the first 13 holes put Woad at the top of the board, and there were chances down the stretch that could've won it outright or gotten her into a playoff. In the end, she finished one stroke shy of extra holes, taking a share of third with Minjee Lee but not the money. 'I did have a look after and was like, oh no,' said Woad with a laugh of Lee's $523,761 paycheck. Woad is behind half a season on CME points When it comes to CME points, Woad will have to start from scratch as a pro. A short-term goal is to amass enough in the coming months to qualify for the Asian swing and season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. 'I'd love to win an event,' said Woad, 'and the future Solheim is definitely on the radar.' Woad moved up 79 spots in the Rolex Rankings after Evian and is now 64th in the world. She's already had a conversation with European captain Anna Nordqvist. While she took Monday off – her first day without touching a golf club in three weeks – she had a putting lesson scheduled with Nick Soto on Tuesday. She'll see Bone later in the week at Farnharm Golf Club, where she's now an honorary member and Bone is head pro. He'll be back on the bag at the British Open, one last hurrah, before she gets a professional caddie in place. Woad will still be represented by Excel Sports Management as a pro, joining a list of stars that includes Lydia Ko, Rose Zhang and Michelle Wie West. As an amateur, she had NIL deals with Titleist/FootJoy, Novellus and Upper Deck. Golf seems 'effortless' to Woad, others say Next week's Scottish Open at Dundonald Links offers an ideal tune-up for Porthcawl, which Woad recently played for the first time. She won the 2021 Welsh Women's Open Stroke Play on a different course, Newport, but enjoys any good challenge in the wind. 'It seems effortless to her,' said fellow Englishwoman and Florida State alum Karen Stupples from the broadcast booth at Evian. Bond recently looked back on the first email Woad ever sent FSU, back in 2020, when she was ranked 1,151st in the world. Four years later, she'd ascend to No. 1. In 20-plus years of coaching, Bond has never seen a player drill down so much into the details as Woad. After struggling in the rough around the greens at the 2024 U.S. Women's Open at Lancaster, she went to work at FSU's short game facility, strengthening a weakness. 'I feel like I can get up and down now from anywhere,' she said. Woad announced her plans to turn professional on the same day Craig Kessler officially began his role as the 10th commissioner of the LPGA. Finding ways to elevate a rising star like Woad should be among the priorities for a tour that lacks household names in the U.S. One thing feels certain: Woad is a player with staying power.
USA Today
06-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Yani Tseng, now putting left-handed, qualified for first U.S. Women's Open in nine years
Yani Tseng, now putting left-handed, qualified for first U.S. Women's Open in nine years Five-time major champion Yani Tseng will make her first U.S. Women's Open appearance since 2016. The former No. 1 advanced out of a five-for-one playoff at Arizona Country Club on May 5 along with former Wildcat golfer Yusang Hou, who took medalist honors at 4-under 140. Tseng, who recently switched to putting left-handed to combat the yips, shot 70-71 in the 36-hole qualifier to finish at 3 under along with Ryann O'Toole, Hira Naveed, Dottie Ardina and Laetitia Beck. Currently ranked 979th in the world, Tseng spent 109 weeks as the No. 1 player at the height of her career. Now in the midst of trying to make a comeback on the LPGA, Tseng missed the cut at the Chevron Championship in her first LPGA start of 2025. She also missed the weekend at the Black Desert Championship in Utah. Tseng began putting left-handed five months ago and when asked why after the first round of the Chevron, she didn't sugarcoat. 'Long story short, I've just been really having trouble with my right-handed short putts,' Tseng told Golfweek. 'To be honest, I had the yips. I just couldn't make the short putts.' More: Chevron: Five-time major winner tried everything before beating yips putting left-handed The 2010 Kraft Nabisco champion tried everything, switching hands, moving her legs around, and using a long putter. Actually, the long putter didn't make it into competition because she couldn't keep her hands from shaking. Tseng, 36, said she has struggled off and on with the yips for five years and hoped that hip surgery might fix it. It's not brain surgery, good friend Suzann Pettersen quipped. Tseng's new instructor, Brady Riggs, was the one who first suggested she try putting left-handed. After she hit the ball well at the AIG Women's British Open last summer but missed the cut, Tseng came to the conclusion that she'd never win another golf tournament putting right-handed. The 2025 U.S. Women's Open will be contested at Erin Hills Golf Course for the first time May 28-June 1 in Wisconsin. As a past champion of the KPMG Women's PGA and British Open, Tseng is eligible for those major championship fields as well.
