An FSU Amateur Golfer Beat the World’s Best—but Can’t Accept $79K Prize

Top-ranked amateur women’s golfer Lottie Woad can’t cash the roughly $79,000 winner’s check from the KPMG Women’s Irish Open, despite her dominant six-stroke victory on Sunday.

The Ladies European Tour—like its American counterpart, the LPGA Tour, and many other professional circuits—does not allow amateurs to accept prize money, no matter the result. Woad, 21 and a rising senior at Florida State, was playing on a sponsor’s exemption.

That means Swedish pro Madelene Sagström, who finished second, takes home the first-place prize from the nearly $530,000 tournament purse. Every other player who made the cut will be paid out one place higher than they finished, too. The Irish Open is not an LPGA event, but the LPGA did not have a tournament this past weekend, so many of its top players were in the field.

Amateurs routinely compete in pro tournaments on sponsor’s exemptions and other qualifying measures, but they rarely win them.

The last amateur to win on the LET was Jana Melichová, who won the Czech Ladies Open in 2022 when she was 24. Lydia Ko was the last amateur to win on the LPGA Tour—claiming victory at the Canadian Women’s Open twice before turning pro; she won the event in 2012 and 2013 when she was 15 and 16, respectively.

Last year, then-Alabama sophomore Nick Dunlap became the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since Phil Mickelson in 1991. Dunlap, who was 20 at the time, won The American Express, but he had to forgo the $1.51 million winner’s check. He turned pro shortly after and won the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship last July.

Woad Staying Patient

Woad, who is from England, appears to be holding out for status on the LPGA Tour before turning pro. 

“No, not at all,” she said Sunday when asked about being tempted to turn pro immediately. “Still trying to get my final two points for the LPGA. So, I’m just trying to get those and then we’ll see what happens after that.” Woad is referring to the LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway; she is projected to earn enough points to become a tour member later this year.

Woad has major NIL (name, image, and likeness) deals with Titleist, FootJoy, Upper Deck, and fintech company Novellus. She’s held the No. 1 spot in the women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings since last July, and has made the cut in three of her six major championship appearances, including a T-10 finish at last year’s Women’s British Open.

In 2024, she won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, which is annually played the weekend before The Masters.