England’s Lottie Woad played through a windy Sunday to hold off Korea’s Haeran Ryu and secure victory at the Kroger Queen City Championship.
The 22-year-old started the final round at Maketewah Country Club four shots ahead of Ryu, and quickly extended this to five with an opening birdie. However, Ryu was well composed and locked in on the front nine, where she fired three successive birdies through holes 3 to 5 before adding two more at the 7th and 9th. Woad made her second birdie at the 5th, but then dropped two shots at the 6th. A birdie at the 7th helped her recover, however Ryu had already caught up by the turn as the pressure began to mount.
The Korean’s back nine was more of a struggle as she bogeyed the 10th then followed this with a double bogey at the 14th. Woad kept her cool to par her way in front, only bogeying the 13th. But her efforts were more than enough as Ryu parred the 18th in the group ahead to finish on 10 under, and Woad went on to putt a 20-foot birdie at the penultimate and carve a two-stroke lead. A par at the last was enough to clinch the trophy on 12 under, posting a final-round 69 for her second ever LPGA Tour title.
“I just played pretty good tee-to-green,” Woad said. “I hit a lot 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.”
“It was definitely up there with the strongest of the days and was kind of flickering around a bit. It was a cross-wind most holes, but kind of flipped between into and down. So, trying to judge the yardages into some smaller greens was definitely tricky.”
The victory is her second since her maiden success last year on her professional debut at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open.
“This one is definitely, I think, a little sweeter than the first one because I wasn’t really expecting that,” Woad added. “This one, I’ve seen how good everyone is out there, so it’s good to win again.”
“I generally played pretty well. Obviously, double, not really sure what happened there. Just kind of happened pretty quickly there. The rest I hit a lot of fairways, greens pretty stress-free.”
A shot back from Ryu, Japan’s Miyu Yamashita finished in third on 9 under. China’s Ruoning Yin claimed fourth on 8 under, while fifth was shared between USA’s Amanda Doherty and Korea’s Jin Young Ko on 7 under. World No. 1 Nelly Korda finished tied for eighth, the first time this season she has failed to finish in the top two.
What is the next event?
The next event on the LPGA Tour is the ShopRite LPGA powered by Wakefern taking place between 29-31 May at Seaview Hotel & Golf Club, Galloway, NJ in the U.S.