-
Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Bob Shoemaker stood under a tree near the Augusta National Golf Club clubhouse on Saturday shortly after his daughter, Bailey, made a clutch 5-foot par putt on the 18th hole to maintain a 1-stroke lead in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Shoemaker put a plastic Snoopy golf club in Bailey’s hands when she was 1½ years old, and now the USC freshman was on the verge of possibly winning the premier event in women’s amateur golf.
After Shoemaker carded a bogey-free 6-under 66, the lowest final round in the five-year history of the ANWA, there was only one player left on the course within striking distance — England’s Lottie Woad.
“She’s got this,” Hari Ganne, the father of Stanford golfer Megha Ganne, told Bob Shoemaker.
“I don’t know,” Shoemaker said. “Woad is really good. She could make three birdies in a row and we’re done.”
Shoemaker’s warning was prophetic.
Woad, a sophomore at Florida State, carded birdies on three of the last four holes to post a 3-under 69 in the final round, enough to capture the fifth Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Her 54-hole total of 8-under 208 was 1 better than Shoemaker, who started the final round 4 strokes behind Woad.
LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden finished third at 4-under 212, her third top-three finish in the event.
Woad fell 2 strokes behind Shoemaker after making a bogey on the par-5 13th hole. She needed a nice par save after her tee shot on the 14th hole hit a tree and she hit her approach shot long. She was able to get up and down from behind the green.
“I felt like the three birdies I got were probably not as important as my par save on 14 because I think if I’d gone 3 back at that point, it would have been pretty difficult to get that back,” Woad said. “So a good save there after having like 215 [yards] in because I hit the tree.
She picked up a birdie on the par-5 15th and then made par on the 16th.
After making an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-4 17th to tie Shoemaker at 7 under, Woad bombed her drive on No. 18 down the right side. Woad took an aggressive line on her approach shot, and her ball settled about 15 feet left of the hole. She buckled her knees and pumped her fist after her downhill, left-to-right putt fell into the hole.
“I was honestly just thinking about making birdie rather than par,” Woad said. “I knew I needed par for the playoff, but the pin was such a nice pin that I knew I could use that backstop a little bit. I’m not sure the shot used it in the end.
“Then that putt, I feel like it was probably going past, but I was just being sure I didn’t three-putt it either with it being so quick. It was a bit of a double-breaker, and luckily it broke back right at the end.”
Arnold Palmer (1960) and Mark O’Meara (1998) are the only Masters champions who had birdies on the last two holes and won by 1.
Shoemaker had to wait about 40 minutes for Woad to finish. She killed some time on the practice range in case of a playoff, then watched Woad’s winning putt from the clubhouse.
“Good for her, especially under pressure,” Shoemaker said. “Knowing she had to do it, that’s amazing. That’s awesome. I think super clutch. I’m obviously disappointed, but at the end of the day, I played about as good as I could have. Maybe a couple of putts could have dropped. But I made just about everything too. It is what it is.”
Woad, from Farnham, England, was making her second appearance at Augusta National. Last year, she also advanced to the final round and finished 13th in her debut. Ranked the No. 4 women’s amateur in the world, Woad was named a freshman All-American at FSU last year, and she has already won the Annika Intercollegiate this season. In 2022, she captured the R&A Girls’ Amateur at Carnoustie in Scotland.
Woad, 20, said Saturday’s victory at Augusta National was her biggest. She earned exemptions into four of the five major championships in women’s professional golf, starting with the Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas, from April 18 to 21.
“It’s pretty cool,” Woad said. “I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet. I finished my round not that long ago, so I’m still kind of getting back in the moment here. Yeah, it’s just really cool to be standing in the same place as the Masters champions have stood and just following in their footsteps a little bit.”