AIG WOMEN'S OPEN

July 29, 2025

Lottie Woad

Press Conference

MIKE WOODCOCK: Good afternoon, everyone. Just going to make a start to the press conference. We're joined by the Scottish and Irish Open champion Lottie Woad in the interview room.

Lottie, if I could just begin by asking you you've had a remarkable few weeks. Congratulations again on your victory on Sunday. How do you feel now going into this championship, into the AIG Women's Open?

LOTTIE WOAD: I feel good obviously. I don't feel too different, to be honest. Yeah, I got a lot of confidence from the last few -- the last month really. Just trying to continue to ride that.

Q. And how much confidence in your performance, at the Evian in particular, where you came so close to the playoff, how much confidence does that give you going into a major championship like this?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, I think a lot. Some of the majors that made the cut, I didn't really have the best weekend on, so I was hoping to capitalize a bit more on that one. The final round was also very good. Yeah, it definitely gives me confidence in that and knowing that I can chase it down on Sunday.

Q. What are your early impressions of Royal Porthcawl and what it's going to take to succeed this week?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, I think it will be a really good test. We'll see; weather is always a factor in links golf. A lot more to mind off the tee than St Andrews last year. Definitely got to keep in play. A lot of holes, par is a good score, and then you've got to take a chance on the par-5s really.

Q. After your win obviously last week, on the long drive down to Wales, did you get a chance to celebrate with any of your family or anyone special?

LOTTIE WOAD: I was driving down with my parents. I mean, just a seven-hour car journey. There wasn't really much to do, but it was nice to be together.

Q. Has it kind of sunk in yet that you are an LPGA champion?

LOTTIE WOAD: I think so, yeah. Everyone's been really nice. Everyone's been coming up to say well done. So, yeah, it's been great.

Q. What have you learned over the past 15 months or so about how to handle increased expectations and attention?

LOTTIE WOAD: I think it's still a learning process. I don't think you can ever really fully handle it. I definitely feel like I've got a lot better at it. I just try and block out the noise as much as possible really.

Q. Have you let yourself kind of think back to younger Lottie, little Lottie, and reflect on all of this that's happened to you over the past few weeks? Obviously you haven't had a lot of time to, but does it ever hit you at any point?

LOTTIE WOAD: I don't think I've reflected too much, to be honest. I think after this week, after this week's big week, I've got a week before I go out to America. That's probably when I'll look back at the last few months and kind of reflect on that.

Q. Knowing that you're inspiring a lot of young girls, what would be some advice, what you've learned over the last few months or even throughout the entirety of your career that you'd give to those girls?

LOTTIE WOAD: I've really been just enjoying myself. Enjoyed being in these events and competing and being in contention, just try to have fun with it and not add too much stress really.

Q. If you could speak to, the 1st tee, the 18th hole setup is kind of interesting. How is that to have a tee shot almost over the corner of the 18th green?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, it's interesting. I played the course a month or so ago, and obviously the holes are not that way around. Yeah, you're going over people's heads on 17, which is cool. Hopefully it doesn't cause too many pace of play issues but...

Q. Lottie, well done on last week. Following on your magnificent July, how under pressure do you find yourself this week? Do you feel any pressure, or it's just another day?

LOTTIE WOAD: I mean, there's always pressure obviously, but I don't think there's any more than there was, like from my perspective, before any of the last few weeks. Kind of still was wanting to contend there, and that's still the aim.

Q. Just on a sort of lighter note, how have you spent or how do you intend to spend any of your prize money?

LOTTIE WOAD: I need to get a car in America, so I'll probably buy a car, yeah.

Q. You're favored, the bookmakers have you as favored for this week. When you consider it's your first major as a pro, you've got all the world's best here, does that surprise you?

LOTTIE WOAD: I don't know. 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 favourites.

Obviously everyone's so good, so I feel like anyone can win really. You've seen it this year, so many -- I think every winner has been different. So there's many people it could be.

Q. I think of how people were struck on Sunday how unflappable you looked. You didn't seem to be fazed by it, and it just seemed normal. Did it feel that way?

LOTTIE WOAD: I mean, I felt pretty comfortable. Like the last day I was hitting a lot of fairways and a lot of greens, so it was pretty stress-free, to be honest. There wasn't very many holes where I felt I was going to make bogey; I wasn't in position to do that. So just to give myself those chances.

I didn't actually know I'd been caught on the back nine because there wasn't any scoreboard. So I didn't really have a clue. Then when I birdied 13 and 14, I found out I had the lead, and I was pretty comfortable coming down 18 just laying up.

Q. As a former footballer, what did you make of the Lionesses?

LOTTIE WOAD: I didn't get to watch it because I was driving back, five-hour drive. Listened to it on the radio, and it was great.

Q. As a 21-year-old, what came first for you, life maturity or golf maturity? Or did it happen at the same time? Did one follow the other, or is there kind of a timeline on that?

LOTTIE WOAD: I think probably golf, going off to college. I'd never been to America before. As an 18-year-old, I definitely wasn't life mature, so I had to learn a bit about it.

Q. We had Nelly Korda in here earlier, and she described you as absolutely amazing. What's it like for you to hear that from somebody like Nelly?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, it's really cool. It was great for me that I got to play with her my pro debut. She's someone I've always looked up to. She's obviously an amazing player and a great competitor, and to hear she said something like that is really nice.

Q. You came to Royal Porthcawl a couple weeks ago to play. What did you learn from that visit?

LOTTIE WOAD: It's nice to see the start lines before you get here. There's a few holes that are kind of blindish. You're aiming over the gorge and you don't think that's right, but it actually is the right line. It's nice to know that before the practice round.

Although it was a little softer when I played it, but not too different.

MIKE WOODCOCK: Lottie, best of luck this week. Looking forward to see how you get on.