England’s Lottie Woad shot a one-under 69 in the final round of the Queen City Championship to win her second tournament on the LPGA Tour.
The 22-year-old, who triumphed in the co-sanctioned Scottish Open on her professional debut last July, finished on 12-under 268 to win in Cincinnati by two strokes from South Korea’s Hae-ran Ryu.
Woad, whose scores of 64 and 65 in the second and third rounds set up her victory, held off Ryu, who posted a three-under 67 on day four.
“Obviously very, very happy and grateful,” Woad said when asked to reflect on her last 12 months, having been playing collegiate golf for 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.”
Victory earned her the top prize of $300,000 (£225,000) on a momentous Sunday for English golf in the United States, as Aaron Rai won the US PGA Championship.
Woad started on Sunday with a three-stroke lead over American Amanda Doherty, but she briefly slipped behind Ryu who went five under through the front nine.
However, Ryu then dropped a shot at the 10th and had a double bogey at the par-four 13th to hand the lead back to Woad for the remainder of the round.
American world number one Nelly Korda and number two Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand, who between them had won the past three tournaments on the tour, finished tied for eighth and seventh respectively.
