England’s Lottie Woad shot a three under par 69 on day two of the Tournament of Champions to share the lead with three time major winner Lydia Ko. The 22 year old who only turned professional last year was invited to play at the season opening LPGA event in Orlando. She followed her opening round 67 to sit alongside New Zealander Ko on eight under.
Olympic champion Ko 28 added a 67 on Friday to Thursday’s 69 at the Lake Nona course. Woad made four birdies and one bogey and said I looked at the leaderboard quite a lot because I was getting annoyed. The pins were probably a little trickier so there were not as many birdies as Thursday so I just had to keep giving myself chances.
Ko remains bogey free through 36 holes but the 2024 Women’s Open champion said she would never call the Florida course easy. I think this golf course changes a lot depending on how the conditions are. Woad who is ranked 11th in the world and Ko who is sixth hold a one shot lead over South Korea’s Amy Yang and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka who led after the first round.
The world’s top two ranked players Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul and Nelly Korda of the United States are three off the pace after rounds of 72 and 71 respectively. England’s Charley Hull is five shots behind after a second round 71.
Woad was an amateur when she won her first Ladies European Tour title at the Women’s Irish Open in July and then claimed her second tour victory at the Women’s Scottish Open on her professional debut three weeks later.