Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Newbie: Lottie Woad wins due to unreal end

You may not script a greater end at Augusta Nationwide.

Englishwoman Lottie Woad, who performs collegiately at Florida State, sat in a tie with Bailey Shoemaker at 7-under par via 17 holes.

After discovering the golf green and hitting a terrific wedge shot onto the inexperienced at 18, Woad confronted a 12-footer for birdie for the win.

Shoemaker, in the meantime, nervously sat within the clubhouse after carding a 6-under 66, a record-low rating on the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Newbie.

However Shoemaker’s unbelievable day was not sufficient.

Woad drained her birdie putt on 18, echoing Phil Mickelson in 2004, who did one thing related on that very same inexperienced to win his first Masters.

“Good for her. Particularly beneath strain, figuring out she needed to do it, that’s superb,” Shoemaker stated afterward.

“That’s superior. I believe tremendous clutch. I’m clearly upset, however on the finish of the day, I performed about in addition to I may have. Perhaps a few putts may have dropped. However I made nearly every part too. It’s what it’s.”

And but, Woad’s play down the stretch drew comparisons to Charl Schwartzel in 2011. That 12 months, the South African birdied the ultimate 4 holes to win his first main championship by two strokes over Adam Scott and Jason Day.

This 12 months, nevertheless, Woad birdied three of her remaining 4 holes to win by one, however it began with an unbelievable par save on the 14th.

Woad missed her tee shot left however obtained a lucky bounce. Her ball caromed into the golf green off a Georgia Pine, settling 211 yards from the flagstick. The Englishwoman then airmailed the inexperienced together with her hybrid, creating a fragile up-and-down that she certainly wanted.

She hit her chip shot about 10 toes previous, giving her a tough left-to-right par putt.

Picture by Warren Little/Getty Photos

Woad made it, giving her a glimmer of hope and a few momentum heading to the par-5 fifteenth.

There, Woad once more missed left, forcing her to put up wanting the pond guarding the entrance of this inexperienced. She then caught her third shot under the outlet, organising an uphill birdie putt to get herself to inside one.

As soon as once more, she made that putt, too.

On the following gap, the well-known par-3 sixteenth, Woad caught an aggressive iron shot onto the inexperienced, once more giving herself a superb take a look at birdie. However she missed her putt on the excessive facet, placing her in disbelief.

But, she nonetheless had an opportunity as she trailed by one with two holes to play.

At 17, Woad, who had some bother off the tee on the again 9, stripped a tee shot proper down the center, placing herself in an incredible place to make a birdie. She did simply that, sticking her second shot shut and strolling in her birdie putt with the utmost confidence.

After which, at 18, Woad sat in a tie for the lead, figuring out very properly {that a} birdie would give her the win. With the load of the world on her shoulders, Woad hit a ravishing lower off the tee that discovered the center of the golf green, leaving herself a short-iron into the inexperienced.

She took an aggressive line, however the transfer paid off, as she in the end triumphed in grand style on golf’s holiest grounds.

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By means of. Be sure you try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You may observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.