Sensational amateur win on the Ladies European Tour

Lottie Woad, number 1 in the world amateur rankings, has won her first professional tournament. The Englishwoman won the Women's Irish Open of the Ladies European Tour by six strokes. The field included seasoned LPGA players such as Charley Hull and Georgia Hall, which makes the 21-year-old's success even more impressive.

Woad is no stranger to success despite her amateur status. She has topped the world rankings for female amateurs for a year now and has not finished lower than third place in any tournament on the American college circuit during the regular season. She won the prestigious Augusta National Women's Amateur last year. This year she was named best amateur at the US Women's Open, the same honor she received last year at the Women's Open, where she finished a strong tenth.

Lottie Ward's prominent predecessor

So now her first victory in the pros. The golf world is celebrating the fact that she left two-time LPGA winner and second-placed Madelene Sagstrom from Sweden six shots behind. The last time an amateur won on the Ladies European Tour was three years ago, when Jana Melichova from the Czech Republic won in her home country. However, another former amateur winner is much more prominent: Lydia Ko. She won the New Zealand Women's Open when she was just 15 years old. She is now a major winner and has a complete set of Olympic medals. Will Woad also reach these spheres? With her first victory on a professional tour, the foundations have certainly been laid. After all, she is well on the way to earning an LPGA Tour card with her top results. She could then hit the big time there straight after graduating from college.

The best German player on the leaderboard at Carton House was Patricia Isabel Schmidt in twelfth place. Polly Mack missed out on the top 20 by one position.