Lottie Woad has been handed a star-studded group alongside the previous two AIG Women’s Open champions for the first two rounds of this year’s contest at Royal Porthcawl.
Woad arrives as pre-tournament favourite for the final women’s major of the year, having followed her KPMG Women’s Irish Open victory and contending at the Amundi Evian Championship by making a winning start to her professional career at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open.
The 21-year-old has been given a late-early draw for her first major as a professional, a year on from a tied-10th finish at St Andrews as an amateur, with Woad teeing off at 12.54pm on Thursday alongside defending champion Lydia Ko and 2023 winner Lilia Vu.
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Lottie Woad was pleased to win her first LPGA Tour event on her professional debut at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open and says she’s targeting victory at the AIG Women’s Open
“It is going to be fun,” Ko said in her press conference. “Lilia is obviously a past champion, a couple of years ago, so playing with her is great. It will be my first time playing with Lottie, so I’m excited.
“She [Woad] is coming in with a ton of momentum, and I think there’s going to be a lot of people that’s going to come out and watch her.”
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Lottie Woad opens up about being the bookmakers favourite at the Women’s Open, dealing with pressure that lead to her Scottish Open triumph and how she listened on the radio to England’s victory against Spain during a seven- hour car journey
Vu claimed a six-shot victory in 2023 over Charley Hull, who is on the opposite side of the draw as she bids for a maiden major title, with the Englishwoman grouped with world No 2 Jeeno Thitikul and KPMG Women’s PGA champion Minjee Lee.
World No 1 Nelly Korda continues her bid for a first win of the season in a threeball with 2016 champion Ariya Jutanugarn and world No 6 Angel Yin, starting at 1.16pm on Thursday, a year on from finishing joint runner-up to Ko at St Andrews.
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Speaking ahead of the AIG Women’s Open, Nelly Korda was full of praise for Lottie Woad after her recent victory in the Scottish Open, and spoke of her involvement in the Happy Gilmore 2 movie
Germany’s Sophia Popov will hit the opening tee shot of the 2020 contest, five years on from winning this title, with Chevron Championship winner Mao Saigo also in an early group with former major champions Hinako Shibuno and Allisen Corpuz.
Grace Kim – the Evian Championship winner earlier this month – begins her bid for back-to-back major titles starts in a threeball with world No 4 Ruoning Yin and two-time major champion Brooke Henderson.
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Highlights from the final round of the Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club in France, where Grace Kim holed out for a sensational birdie on the way to her maiden major title
Thursday selected R1 tee times
All BST: USA unless stated; (x) denotes amateur
0714 Hinako Shibuno (Jpn), Mao Saigo (Jpn), Allisen Corpuz
0736 Sei Young Kim (Kor), Ashleigh Buhai (Rsa), Yuka Saso (Jpn)
0809 Ruoning Yin (Chn), Grace Kim (Aus), Brooke Henderson (Can)
0820 Maja Stark (Swe), Lauren Coughlin, Hye Jin Choi (Kor)
0831 Jeeno Thitikul, Minjee Lee, Charley Hull
Image:
Charley Hull is searching for a maiden major title at the AIG Women’s Open
0847 Hannah Green (Aus), Rose Zhang, Jeneath Wong (x) (Mal)
1221 Georgia Hall (Eng), Jennifer Kupcho, Darcey Harry (Wal)
1243 Ayaka Furue (Jpn), Jin Hee Im (Kor), Linn Grant (Swe)
1254 Lydia Ko (Nzl), Lilia Vu, Lottie Woad (Eng)
1316 Nelly Korda, Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha), Angel Yin
Image:
Nelly Korda finished runner-up at the US Women’s Open last month
Sky Sports will once again have extended live coverage from the women’s major finale, with seven hours of live action for each tournament day and a special preview show looking ahead to the event.
Coverage will begin from midday for all four rounds, starting from Thursday, while there will be a daily one-hour highlights show to look back at the best of the previous round’s action on Sky Sports Golf – now channel 406 for Sky customers.
Who will win the AIG Women’s Open? Watch throughout the week live on Sky Sports Golf. Live coverage of the opening round begins on Thursday from midday. For Sky customers, Sky Sports Golf is now found on channel 406. Not got Sky? Stream the women’s majors and more with no contract.
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