Lottie Woad has played some phenomenal golf as an amateur, and she reached a new level of fame when she won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last April. The Florida State junior and top-ranked female amateur in the world heads back to Georgia this week to defend her title, and there’s another perk looming as well—the possibility of earning her LPGA Tour card soon.
Winning at Augusta last year came with a bonus of two additional points in the new LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway (LEAP) program. The system debuted this year and it’s a path for the world’s best amateurs to get LPGA Tour status faster via milestones and achievements.
Woad has 16 of the 20 points needed to secure a tour card through LEAP. An unprecented repeat win in the ANWA would put her only two points away from becoming the first player to earn her tour card through LEAP, and the Englishwoman could begin playing on tour this year or defer to next year.
“Yeah, it would mean a lot,” Woad said in a conference call. “I’ve always dreamed of playing on the LPGA, so to maybe be able to get that slightly easier way of not needing to go to Q School would definitely be huge.”
The 20 points can be accumulated over four years, and the 21-year-old Woad earned 15 points in 2024 and one in 2023. Last year, she got four points with the McCormack Medal, awarded to the player who finishes the competitive season ranked No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings; three points when she reached the top spot in the WAGR (which she’s occupied for 104 weeks), and two points each for her ANWA win, top-25 finishes in the Chevron Championship and AIG Women’s Open, and for playing in the Curtis Cup.
The LPGA is happy with its avenue to get future stars on tour sooner rather than later.
“[We’re] very proud of the program,” said Tommy Tangtiphaiboontana, senior vice president of tour operations at the LPGA. “It’s something the LPGA needed to help bridge that pathway that was needed from amateur-college golf to the LPGA. … This is the first step in pathways to help make the transition for elite players and amateurs to transition to professional golf.”
The LPGA devised a plan for the criteria based on the performance of previous phenoms and top amateurs.
“We basically recreated the resumes of about 100 players over the last 12 years, players on our tour,” Tangtiphaiboontana said. “What did everyone do in their amateur careers and what can be an indicator of success? The rankings, the awards, the tournament wins, the team selections, those were all factored in as common things showed up on people’s résumés.”
Tangtiphaiboontana noted that there are three players with “generational talent” who would have earned their cards through the LEAP criteria if it had been in place earlier: Lydia Ko, Leona Maguire and Rose Zhang.
“Based on our research, if they’ve already accomplished all of these things to earn 20 points, they’re already ready for the next level,” Tangtiphaiboontana said. “Whether it’s Lottie or anybody else that comes through this program, for us, we feel we’ve done the research to basically show that, hey, if you can hit that 20-point mark in that four-year period … this should prove to be an indicator that you’ll have success at the next level.”
LEAP is similar to the PGA Tour University Accelerated program, from which Luke Clanton and Gordon Sargent have earned their tour cards. Clanton became the most recent achiever when he made the cut in the Cognizant Classic after a couple of close calls to earn his 20th point, setting off a family celebration of tears, hugs and joy on the green.
Woad has a chance to duplicate that, while no other female players are within striking distance. The current No. 2 points earner in LEAP, with eight, is Auburn sophomore Anna Davis, the 2022 ANWA champion who is making her fourth start in Augusta.
Woad has numerous paths (outlined below) to get to 20 points, and it figures to make for an exciting spring and summer.
“I think it’s a really good opportunity for all of us,” Woad said of LEAP. “It’s so recent, I didn’t really know it was coming. But I was obviously very happy when I saw it come out. I’m just really trying to focus on playing my own game, but I have a lot of opportunities coming up to get some points, so I’m really focusing on playing good golf really and seeing where that puts me.”
LEAP Criteria
World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR)
(Points awarded based on the highest achieved career WAGR ranking, awarded only once)
3 points: WAGR #1 Ranking
2 points: WAGR #2 or #3 Ranking
1 point: WAGR #4 or #5 Ranking
LPGA Tournament Participation
(No limit on points awarded in this category)
2 points: Top 25 (and ties) at an LPGA major championship
2 points: Top 10 (and ties) at an official LPGA tournament (non-major)
1 point: Made cut at an LPGA major championship
1 point: Top 40 (and ties) at an official LPGA tournament (non-major)
Amateur Championships
(No limit on points awarded in this category)
2 points: champion of each of the following:
U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship
Women’s British Amateur Championship
European Ladies Amateur Championship
Augusta National Women’s Amateur
World Amateur Team (Individual champion)
Division I NCAA Championship (Individual champion)
1 point: champion of each of the following:
U.S. Girls Junior Championship
Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship
Women’s Amateur Latin America
Awards
(No limit on points awarded in this category)
4 points: McCormack Medal winner
2 points: ANNIKA Award winner
2 points: Women’s Golf Coaches Association Player of the Year
1 point: AJGA Player of the Year
1 point: Division I Inkster Award Winner
Teams
(No limit on points awarded in this category)
2 points: each amateur player competing as an official member of a Curtis Cup team
1 point: each amateur player competing as an official member of the Arnold Palmer Cup team
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
