Lottie Woad blew the three-stroke lead she began the day with but rallied with a 1-under 69 in the final round to win the Kroger Queen City Championship on Sunday in Cincinnati.
The Englishwoman, buoyed by her 11-under combined showing in the second and third rounds, finished with a 12-under-par 268, two strokes clear of South Korea’s Haeran Ryu at 10 under.
For Woad, a 22-year-old who turned pro last July, it was her second victory in her 10 months as a professional.
“Obviously very, very happy and grateful that it is (reality),” Woad said when asked to reflect on her last 12 months, with her playing collegiately at Florida State this time last year. “This one is definitely, I think, a little sweeter than the first one because I wasn’t really expecting that. This one I’ve seen how good everyone is out there, so it’s good to win again.”
Woad began the day with a three-stroke lead over Amanda Doherty. She lost her lead with a 1-under front nine paired with Ryu shooting 5 under over the first nine holes.
But Ryu bogeyed the par-4 10th and then posted a double bogey at the par-4 13th, which gave Woad the lead back for good.
It was the sixth top-10 finish in 10 events this season for Ryu, who is still searching for her first 2026 win.
After Woad had a double bogey of her own at No. 6, she finished with two birdies, one bogey and a streak of pars in her final 12 holes.
“I think I just played pretty good tee-to-green. I hit a lot of greens, hit a lot of fairways,” Woad said. “And it’s pretty windy out there, so I think that was the key obviously to having the lead.”
Japan’s Miyu Yamashita (64) had the low round of the day to surge into solo third place at 9-under. She was 2 under on the front nine thanks to an eagle at the par-5 seventh hole and then finished remarkably well with four consecutive birdies at Nos.14-17.
“The course was really tough and the greens were especially difficult, but I’m happy I was able to put together a good score on the final day,” Yamashita said through a translator.
She added: “Really good to see my finish position become more consistent, and I want to keep doing the same moving forward.”
Ruoning Yin (66) of China finished in fourth place at 8 under. Doherty shot 1 over to fall into a tie for fifth with South Korea’s Jim Young Koo (65) at 7 under.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda (67) saw her streak of back-to-back victories snapped, but back-doored a top-10 finish with a tie for eighth at 5 under.
World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand was the only player to shoot below par in all four rounds, posting a 1-under score Sunday to finish in solo seventh at 6 under.
