Summer of Lottie Continues with Scottish Open Win

One start. One win. No learning curve needed for Lottie Woad. In her debut as a professional, the 21-year-old made quick work of the Scottish Open at Dundonald Links, firing rounds of 67-65-67-68 to win by three. Only runner-up Hyo Joo Kim was able to stay within seven strokes of Lottie's final tally of 21-under par. It was a stress-free day that appeared effortless for Woad even when Kim tied things up on the back nine. Her composure never faltered. She made a couple of birdies when she needed to, and had plenty of wiggle room to play the par-5 18th conservatively, laying up to leave a wedge (one of the strongest parts of her game) into the green to set up one last birdie. As Lottie summed it up, it was a "pretty good" first week.

The Woad show rolls on with a chance to reach even higher heights this week. Start number two is the final major of the year, the AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl. Lottie will enter the week as one of the betting favorites and with good memories from last year's Open at St. Andrews, where she won the Smyth Salver and finished in the topn10. For all of her accomplishments – the ANWA win, the Irish Open victory a few weeks ago, and Sunday’s triumph – this week is set up to be the biggest of her young career. She'll be the subject of all the pre-tournament chatter, and the fan favorite of the friendly U.K. crowds. The belle of the Porthcawl ball, if you will.

Most importantly, the coverage this week is fitting of what a talent like Lottie deserves. Streaming the Scottish Open broadcast this past weekend on the NBC Sports app was the only option until a last-minute pivot squeezed Sunday’s final two hours on CNBC. That move is an early win for new commissioner Craig Kessler for a variety of reasons. It shows he is not accepting of the limitations of the current media rights deal. It proves he's already got strong relationships with the right stakeholders, and it scores some brownie points with the players by showing that he'll go to bat for them. 

Sunday may very well be just the beginning for Lottie Woad. We might look back on this time as the summer of Lottie. A couple hours of coverage on a channel for business news is still a disservice to her, the rest of the players, and the fans, but disaster was avoided. For the first time in years, the LPGA appears to be in capable hands. If this is the start of something big for Lottie and the Tour is finally going to get out of its own way, everyone wins.