BOND HILL − Lottie Woad is the winner of the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G.
The 22-year-old from England entered the final round on Sunday, May 17 with a three-shot lead after combining to shoot 11-under in the second and third rounds.
Woad had an up-and-down final round, which saw her lead disappear before the back-9 to the surging Haeran Ryu. Woad reclaimed a one-shot lead after Ryu suffered a double bogey on the par-4 13th and was in the driver’s seat from there.
Woad went nine holes without a birdie but maintained the lead by grinding out eight pars in that stretch. Her lone bogey on the back-9 came on No. 13, when her errant tee shot left her in the right rough with trees in front. She eventually punched out onto the fairway and settled for bogey after flushing an iron onto the green.
On the par-4 17th hole, she all but sealed the victory by hitting a long left-to-right breaking birdie putt.
On No. 18, Woad hit the middle of the green on a 145-yard par-3 and eventually tapped in for a par to finish the event at 12-under.
Woad’s accuracy was impressive as she hit 10 of 14 fairways in each of the final three rounds after going just 3 of 14 in the first round on Thursday. That allowed the former Augusta National Women’s Amateur Champion to aggressively seek birdies, hitting 15 of 18 greens in regulation.
“I think I just played pretty good tee-to-green,” Woad said. “I hit a lot of greens, hit a lot of fairways. And it’s pretty windy out there, so I think that was the key to having the lead.”
It’s her second career win on the LPGA Tour and first win of the season after previously recording a trio of Top 10 finishes in nine starts. This time last year, she was preparing for the NCAA Tournament with the Florida State Seminoles women’s golf team before turning pro in July 2025.
“Obviously, very, very happy and grateful,” Woad said. “This one is definitely, I think, a little sweeter than the first one because I wasn’t really expecting that.”
Ryu, a three-time LPGA Tour winner, was 11-under over the final three rounds after carding a one-over 71 on Thursday. Ryu played the front-9 at five-under on Sunday to climb into contention but had a bogey on No. 10 and the costly double bogey on No. 13 after three putting from close range.
Ryu had a birdie on No. 14 to climb back to within a shot of Woad but couldn’t get another circle on the scorecard with a few birdie putts coming up just short down the stretch. Overall, she led the tournament field with 22 birdies en route to her sixth top 10 in 10 events this season and third top 5 finish.
“I had a little mistake on the back-9, but that hole, I felt, is so hard,” Ryu said. “But I’m second. First runner-up, right? So, I’m happy right now.”
Nelly Korda climbs back into top 10
World No. 1 Nelly Korda was under-par in three of her four rounds this week at Maketewah. Her two-over 72 in the third round on Saturday kept her from contending for a fourth title this season.
Korda rebounded well on Sunday, moving up 11 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for eighth place with a three-under 67.
Korda and Jeeno Thitikul, who was runner-up in this event in each of the last two years, have combined for five LPGA titles already this season.
Thitikul was one of two players, along with Frida Kinhult, to record four sub-70 rounds this week, but she was just too inconsistent with the putter on Sunday, finishing with four birdies and four bogeys. Thitikul finished 6-under for the tournament in seventh place.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Lottie Woad wins LPGA’s Kroger Queen City Championship
Reporting by Shelby Dermer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
