'I'll pick her brain' - defending AIG Women's Open champion Lydia Ko on Lottie Woad

Ko is now looking forward to defending her title in this week’s first edition at Royal Porthcawl in Wales, though, 12 months on, she isn’t the star billing in South Wales, with Lottie Woad set to be the centre of attention after her incredible run of recent results, the most recent being an ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open success at Dundonald Links on Sunday on her professional debut.

On the back of that, the 21-year-old English player, who picked up the Smyth Silver as leading amateur in that 2024 event at St Andrews, has been installed the bookies’ favourite this week, when she will have Ko and American Lilia Vu, the 2023 winner, for company in the opening two rounds.

“Yeah, it's going to be fun,” admitted Ko of her grouping. “It will be my first time playing with Lottie, so I'm excited. She's coming in with a ton of momentum, and I think there's going to be a lot of people going to come out and watch her. It's going to be really cool for me to see and see the things that I could possibly learn from her and why she's playing good.

“Just because you're a higher ranked player doesn't mean that there's something that I can't learn from somebody else. She's obviously playing great golf. I've seen her swing, and my coach has sent me a video of her swing as well because there's aspects that I'm kind of going for that she has. Yeah, it will be really cool to just be inside the ropes, pick her brain a little bit. It's a great group, and I think it's going to be a great couple days.”

On the evidence of her polished performance on the Ayrshire, there is nothing to suggest that Woad can’t become a major winner this week, though she admits that handling increased expectations is not as straightforward as she has been making it look.

“I think it's still a learning process,” said Woad in a pre-event press conference. “I don't think you can ever really fully handle it. I definitely feel like I've got a lot better at it. I just try and block out the noise as much as possible really.

“I mean, there's always pressure obviously, but I don't think there's any more from my perspective than there was before any of the last few weeks. I’ve really been just enjoying myself. I’ve enjoyed being in these events and competing and being in contention, just try to have fun with it and not add too much stress really.”

In an event that sees Gemma Dryburgh as the sole Scot, rain and wind are in the forecast, though, thankfully, conditions are unlikely to be as bad as the final round of the Senior Open at the same venue two years ago,

Royal Porthcawl prize fund will be $9.75 million

“I think this is the biggest women's sporting event in Wales,” observed Ko. “I heard the weather was pretty brutal for the Senior Open and hopefully with some nicer weather in the forecast, we have tons of spectators.”

On the eve of the event, it was announced this week’s prize fund will be $9.75 million, which is an increase of $250,000 on last year, with a record $1,462,500 going to the winner on Sunday.