Florida State coach Amy Bond found a brand new Titleist ProV1 buried in the second fairway of Seminole Legacy Golf Club during the final round of the recent Florida State Match Up. She handed it to junior Lottie Woad on the third tee and asked her to sign it.
“For what?” Woad asked.
Bond figured a kid would show up later in the day to watch, and it would be fun to get a ball signed by the No. 1 amateur in the world. On the fourth hole, Bond gave the ball away to a young girl, and on No. 5, that same little girl went over to Woad to say thanks and ask for a photo.
Woad, of course, couldn’t resist.
Bond finds herself in a unique and enviable position this season. She has not one, but two No. 1 players on her team to prepare for the next level. Woad, the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion, tops the World Amateur Golf Ranking while her teammate, Mirabel Ting, is the nation’s top collegiate golfer.
“It’s not very often that World No. 1 has been playing No. 2, you know,” said Bond.
Ting’s record-breaking 10-stroke victory at the Florida State Match Up marks her fifth title in six stroke-play starts this season. She’s a whopping 52 under par in that stretch. Woad, meanwhile, hasn’t finished outside the top 3 in a college event in more than a year.
When it comes to favorites for the sixth edition of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur April 2-5, it’s hard to look past the Seminoles’ remarkable 1-2 punch. The tournament begins at Champions Retreat on Wednesday, and six of the top seven from last year are in the field. A cut will be made after two rounds, and every contestant will have the chance to play Augusta National Golf Club on Friday in a practice round before Saturday's conclusion.
Woad’s dramatic victory at Augusta National last spring included birdies on three of the last four holes, joining Arnold Palmer (1960), Mark O’Meara (1998) and Art Wall Jr. (1959) as champions at Augusta National Golf Club who birdied their final two holes to win by one shot.
The victory propelled the reserved Englishwoman into her first LPGA appearance at the Chevron Championship, where she finished in the top 25. She’d go on to finish runner-up at the NCAA Championship and 10th at the AIG Women’s British Open at St. Andrews – which included a hole-out for eagle on the iconic 18th. She also helped Great Britain and Ireland take back the Curtis Cup at historic Sunningdale Golf Club in England.
“Bucket-list stuff,” said Woad, who still hasn’t taken the ANWA trophy out of the box for fear it might rust.
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