England’s Lottie Woad arrives at her first KPMG Women’s PGA Championship three days after one of the most painful losses of her young career — and says the reset has already happened.
Lottie Woad needed an 18-inch putt to win the Meijer LPGA Classic last Sunday. She missed it. The ball lipped out on the high side, a three-putt bogey on the 72nd hole sent the tournament into a playoff, and Miyu Yamashita — who had already finished her round and was standing watching — took the title on the first extra hole.
It was the kind of moment that can define or derail a player’s season. For Woad, it has done neither. By Monday morning she was at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota, preparing for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, one of women’s golf’s five majors. Switched on, she says, from the moment she arrived.
“Basically as soon as I got here early Monday morning I was switched on to this week,” she said at her pre-tournament press conference. “Every week is another tournament, so you’re lucky with that — it doesn’t matter what you did last week.”
The hole that got away
The full sequence at Blythefield Country Club was almost theatrical in its cruelty. Woad had holed out from a greenside bunker on the 17th to take a one-shot lead into the last — one of the shots of the week. On the par-five 18th, she went for the green in two, found the rough left of the flag, and played safe to 40 feet. Her lag putt ran past to around three feet. Then the miss.
Woad reflected on the 18th-hole decision . “I would always go for it in two, but kind of wishing I didn’t now. Next time I think I should have laid up,” she said. “Got a pretty bad lie in the rough and hit an OK shot. Wish I’d got the first putt a little closer — and kind of wish I’d putted first too, instead of watching Cassie’s [Porter] putt. Kind of tricked me.”
She went to the playoff, missed a 10-footer for birdie on the same hole, and Yamashita — who had shot a remarkable 64 to come from five shots back — rolled in her birdie putt to win. It was Yamashita’s third LPGA title.
“I felt like I genuinely putted really well that week — made a lot of clutch putts,” Woad said. “Just ended up hitting a bad putt on the last, and that’s the one probably everyone will remember.”
Perspective beyond her years
What has marked Woad’s first season on tour is precisely this quality: the ability to hold things in proportion without dismissing them. She did not pretend Meijer didn’t hurt. She just refused to let it linger.
“I’m still 22 and I’ve won twice already,” she said. “If you told me that coming out of college this year, I would’ve bit your hand off for it. So just trying to use that perspective as much as possible.”
Those two wins — at the Scottish Open on her LPGA debut, and a second title in the Kroger Queen City Championship earlier this season — have established Woad as one of the most watchable players on tour. She is currently ranked fifth in the world.
On what she takes from the Meijer week overall: “I think a lot of good things, more than bad. Definitely wanted to get the win, but very proud of how I played, especially the two days in the final group over the weekend. Kind of felt like I was leading the charge and playing really well.”
A first major — and a record purse
Hazeltine is a new venue for Woad and this is her first KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The Robert Trent Jones-designed course in Chaska, Minnesota, hosts the championship for the second time — Hannah Green won here in 2019.
The 2026 event carries a purse of $13 million, the largest in women’s golf history, with the winner taking home $1.95 million. Woad’s assessment of Hazeltine was honest : “The rough is pretty thick, so you definitely want to hit it straight and try to hit as many greens as possible. Patience is going to be key.”
The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship runs 25–28 June. UK viewers can watch live on Sky Sports Golf from 5.30pm BST on Thursday and Friday, from 5pm on Saturday, and from 4pm on Sunday.
Watch the full press conference here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u3PGDP5g9M
