THE ANNIKA DRIVEN BY GAINBRIDGE AT PELICAN

November 12, 2026

Lottie Woad

Pelican Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Okay, here now with Lottie Woad after her first round at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. 65 opening round from you today. Best opening round of your LPGA Tour career. What was clicking for you out there?

LOTTIE WOAD: Oh, is it?

Q. Yeah.

LOTTIE WOAD: I guess it's par 70, so it feels better. Yeah, I think I missed one fairway today, so was keeping it in play nicely. Gave myself a lot of chances. Hit some good shots inside ten feet.

And, yeah, just kept a relatively good card going.

Q. Seven birdies out there for you. What's the key to being able to score so well?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, I think there is a lot of chances out there, but at the same time, there is a few holes they put in certain places that can get you. Today I made two bogeys from the fairway that I probably could have avoided.

You need to play smart to a couple pins, so tomorrow need to make sure I do that. But overall, it's softer than last year so you can be relatively aggressive.

Q. Then as we kind of wind down the season here, how do you assess your game and where you are with life now versus Lottie Woad last year?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, I think it's great. I was trying to treat this year as a rookie year I guess even though in a sense it's not, so I've tried to learn as much as possible. I feel a lot more comfortable now, not just with golf, but the life on Tour than I did in January at the start of the year, so I am feeling really good going into next year.

Q. What's the biggest thing you've learned?

LOTTIE WOAD: Just I think it's a long season. I think this year, maybe by the end of the year I've played 25, 26 events and Solheim, so you're playing a lot and trying to manage fatigue as well.

I think post-Solheim I definitely was a little tired, and, yeah, kind of crept into a few of my events after that. So I think just managing rest as well.

Q. Do you think you have a sweet spot in terms of total number of events you might be shooting for next year?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, I think I'm going to play a couple less. I am going to play maybe 23 or 24. I'm still testing it out so I don't quite know my number, but...

Q. What have you learned about how many in a row you want to do or playing into majors, that sort of thing?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, generally this year I've done mainly two in a row other than where it's made sense to do three. I think next year I'll do three at the start of the year just to kind of get going.

Other than that, I think mainly I'm doing two, maybe another three-stretch. I think that's kind of nice for me. I like to play I guess before majors if it's possible. If it's stupid like location-wise then I won't. If you can, I will.

Q. What do you make to the new changes to the pace of playing policy?

LOTTIE WOAD: Obviously, they're not going into effect today but today felt like it went quite well. We all want to be quicker and play quicker out here, and obviously the fans want that, too, so hopefully it works.

Q. One more if I may: Nelly had a great year, Player of the Year. Having kind of watched her up close for a while now, anything that you've taken from her or what impresses you the most I guess about how she goes about her business?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, I think she definitely goes about her business very well. Like I see in the practice days she'll come to the course and do what she needs to do and leave. It's not really any wasted time or wasted energy I think. It's obviously a long year so I think she manages her time very well.

I've played with her a fair bit now and I think just generally doesn't seem to have a weakness. I feel like she is just solid in all areas, which is a great thing to have.

Q. Second time at this event or third?

LOTTIE WOAD: Second, yeah.

Q. The softer conditions this year, how big a difference is that from what we faced last year?

LOTTIE WOAD: I mean, last year was my first year here and we had like a cold front and all that, so I don't think it was anything like this year. So this year I kind of learned the course again, just kind of saw it with fresh eyes I guess.