Woad 'feeling good' as she keeps Scottish Open lead
Women's Scottish Open third-round leaderboard
-17 Woad (Eng); -15 S-Y Kim (Kor), Madsen (Den); -14 H-J Kim (Kor); -12 Korda (US); -9 Reto (SA); -8 Choi (Kor), Schmelzel (US)
Selected others:-5 Maguire (Ire); -4 Hull (Eng); -3 Hall (Eng), Harry (Wal); +1 Fuller (Eng); +2 Williams (Wal); +3 Dryburgh (Sco).
Lottie Woad is "feeling good" as she takes a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Women's Scottish Open as the 21-year-old looks to mark her professional debut with a second tournament victory.
The former world number one amateur from Surrey maintained her cushion at the top of the leaderboard after a third-round five-under-par 67 at Dundonald Links.
Woad, who won the Irish Open as an amateur, turned professional last week after missing out on £400,000 prize money having finished just a shot outside the play-off won by Grace Kim at the Evian Championship, the women's fourth major of the year.
She said "there's always nerves" but hopes her recent experiences will work to her advantage.
"I am excited for the opportunity and I've got the experience from leading in Ireland and other events that I've been in," she said. "I'm just going to try and use that – I'm feeling good."
A fourth birdie in her first 10 holes briefly extended Woad's advantage to three shots and, despite picking up further shots at the 14th and 17th, a bogey at the short 15th – only her second in 54 holes – left her 17 under.
That was two better than Denmark's Nanna Koerstz Madsen and South Korean Sei Young Kim, who shot an impressive 66.
Seven-time LPGA winner Hyo Joo Kim matched that to sit one back, while world number one Nelly Korda is five shots adrift on 12 under after a bogey-free 70.
The last time a player won on their professional Ladies European Tour debut was Singapore's Shannon Tan at the 2024 Magical Kenya Ladies Open.
"There was a lot of attention kind of leading up, so this feels a bit more free now that I've got my [LPGA] card," Woad said.
"I don't think you can ever expect to be leading, but I knew my game was good and I was playing well the last month or so. I definitely hoped to be contending. I'm where I wanted to be."
