Augusta National Women’s Amateur: Lottie Woad triumphs thanks to incredible finish

Lottie Woad capped off an incredible final round with back-to-back birdies to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

You could not script a better finish at Augusta National.

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

After finding the fairway and hitting a terrific wedge shot onto the green at 18, Woad faced a 12-footer for birdie for the win.

Shoemaker, meanwhile, nervously sat in the clubhouse after carding a 6-under 66, a record-low score at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

But Shoemaker’s incredible day was not enough.

Woad drained her birdie putt on 18, echoing Phil Mickelson in 2004, who did something similar on that same green to win his first Masters.

“Good for her. Especially under pressure, knowing she had to do it, that’s amazing,” Shoemaker said afterward.

“That’s awesome. I think super clutch. I’m obviously disappointed, but at the end of the day, I played about as well as I could have. Maybe a couple of putts could have dropped. But I made just about everything too. It is what it is.”

And yet, Woad’s play down the stretch drew comparisons to Charl Schwartzel in 2011. That year, the South African birdied the final four holes to win his first major championship by two strokes over Adam Scott and Jason Day.

This year, however, Woad birdied three of her final four holes to win by one, but it all started with an incredible par save at the 14th.

Woad missed her tee shot left but received a fortunate bounce. Her ball caromed into the fairway off a Georgia Pine, settling 211 yards from the flagstick. The Englishwoman then airmailed the green with her hybrid, creating a delicate up-and-down that she surely needed.

She hit her chip shot about 10 feet past, giving her a tricky left-to-right par putt.

Woad made it, giving her a glimmer of hope and some momentum heading to the par-5 15th.

There, Woad again missed left, forcing her to lay up short of the pond guarding the front of this green. She then stuck her third shot below the hole, setting up an uphill birdie putt to get herself to within one.

Once again, she made that putt, too.

On the next hole, the famous par-3 16th, Woad stuck an aggressive iron shot onto the green, again giving herself an excellent look at birdie. But she missed her putt on the high side, putting her in disbelief.

Yet, she still had a chance as she trailed by one with two holes to play.

At 17, Woad, who had some trouble off the tee on the back nine, stripped a tee shot right down the middle, putting herself in a great position to make a birdie. She did just that, sticking her second shot close and walking in her birdie putt with the utmost confidence.

And then, at 18, Woad sat in a tie for the lead, knowing very well that a birdie would give her the win. With the weight of the world on her shoulders, Woad hit a beautiful cut off the tee that found the middle of the fairway, leaving herself a short-iron into the green.

She took an aggressive line, but the move paid off, as she ultimately triumphed in grand fashion on golf’s holiest grounds.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.