Lottie Woad continues to shine on the professional stage as she enters Sunday’s final round two ahead of the pack at the ISPS HANDA Scottish Open while Leona Maguire’s title hopes slip away.
The 21-year-old is seeking her maiden LPGA win in what is her professional debut after grabbing the media’s attention by winning the LET’s KPMG Women’s Irish Open as an amateur at the beginning of the month.
Woad closed out round three at five-under, scoring six birdies and one bogey, taking her to –17 for the tournament.
“I mean, I’ll take it overall, but I feel like I probably played better than I did the last two days,” said Woad, honestly.
“(I) just didn’t really score too well. I gave myself a lot of chances. Happy with how I played tee-to-green. Could have maybe holed a few more putts.”
Although new to the professional game, Woad aims to use the experience gained from competing this year as an amateur to see her over the line on Sunday.
“I’m feeling good, just excited for the opportunity,” she added.
“I’ve got the experience from leading in Ireland and other events that I’ve been in… so I’m just going to try and use that.”
It was a tough day for Cavan’s Leona Maguire, as the 30-year-old struggled off the tee box, leaving her in tough positions to score well.
Maguire covered the front nine in three-over but kept it together to go –2 on the back side, putting the five-time professional winner at +1 for the day and -5 overall and sharing 18th – 12 shots behind the leader.
South Korea’s Sei-Young Kim shot five-under in round two but went one better in round three, eagling the par-5 14th along the way.
The 32-year-old has been without a win for almost five years, but a commanding effort on Sunday could put an end to that.
“Yeah, it’s been a while since (my) last win, maybe four years ago. I’m waiting a long time,” said Kim.
“I’m still working hard and always (my) goal is to reach and win the tournament… we’ll see.”
Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen continues her fine form throughout the week with another superb display on the greens as the 30-year-old’s ability with the putter keeps her in a tie for second place with Kim.
“A couple nice putts there. I have been putting pretty well this week so hopefully I can do that tomorrow as well… I need to go work on my driver right now. I need that to work if I have a shot tomorrow”, said Madsen openly.
World no.1 Nelly Korda went bogey-free in round three but struggled to leave her mark on the Scottish Links, carding just two birdies. The American sits in the top five at –12 and is looking for a big push on Sunday if she is looking to add to her 20 professional wins.
“(I) definitely missed a couple more greens. I wasn’t hitting it probably as good as I was the first two days … but other than that, I made some really good par saves and just didn’t really capitalise on some of my good shots,” said Korda.
“(I’m) very focused on tomorrow. Just wake up and see how it goes. That’s all I can do.”
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