AUGUSTA NATIONAL WOMEN'S AMATEUR

April 5, 2024

Lottie Woad

Quick Quotes

Q. First and foremost, how is your impression of the course? How did it play? And how excited are you to be out here?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, it was amazing. I played it last year, so I knew what to expect. It still kind of blows you away that you're playing Augusta. It seems like it's playing pretty similar to last year. The greens are slightly firm, but they're not too bad.

Q. How did you sleep last night?

LOTTIE WOAD: Absolutely fine, yeah. Getting up, I think the alarm was set for like 6:00 or something. I woke up by the alarm, so yeah, slept through the night.

Q. Was it nice to have kind of a reset day in between the second and final round, or would you rather kind of continue the momentum and play the final round today?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, it's kind of weird. This is the only tournament where this has happened. I feel like it doesn't really make a difference for me. Like I'd be happy to play today, but I'll be happy to play tomorrow.

Q. (No microphone)?

LOTTIE WOAD: This course is probably more of a drawer's course, apart from the 18th green where you need to hit fades. I need to probably practice a few more draws.

Q. What are you picking up or learning this year that perhaps you didn't know last year?

LOTTIE WOAD: About the course? Probably the greens. I struggled a lot on the greens last year at Champions Retreat, just with how quick they were and how much slope there was, particularly yesterday with it blowing so hard. The balls were moving all over the place.

But I putted really well yesterday. So I definitely learnt from the lines on that last year.

Q. Did you anticipate a solid week with the way your game is trending right now? How have you been playing?

LOTTIE WOAD: I mean, it's hard anticipating you're going to play well every week, but every week I just try and contend. It's hard to win a golf tournament, and someone could just shoot lights out even if you're playing great.

So just trying to hang in there and give yourself chances really.

Q. You mentioned yesterday that you work with a sports psych, you do some breathing exercises. Can you just walk us through when you started working with the sports psych and what you guys kind of focus on?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, I've probably worked with him for over a year now. It was just kind of getting over my bad shots quicker so they don't affect my next shot. If I feel like I'm kind of thinking ahead or thinking back on that shot, I'll just do a couple of breathing exercises and just try and get myself back into thinking about my processes.

Q. What are those breathing exercises?

LOTTIE WOAD: It's just like in for five, out for five. It's simple like that, but it just takes your mind to that really and takes your mind off the bad shot you just hit.

Q. What's your sports psychologist's name?

LOTTIE WOAD: James Austin. He's on our England golf program. So I met him through our national team.

Q. Did you have to struggle with negative self talk in your career? Why did you turn to a sports psychologist?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, a little. I feel like a lot of people do. Golf can be a very tough game at times. I feel like, if I'm starting to miss a few putts, I used to be very hard on myself.

I still am a little bit of a perfectionist, and I'm trying to work on not being as much of a perfectionist, but just managing it really.

Q. Some of your learnings yesterday with overcoming the bad start, is that proof of the work you guys have been doing together?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, definitely. Being 3-over through eight, I was definitely in for a tough day. But I reset after a good birdie on 9 and saw the leaderboard and saw that I wasn't actually as bad in my head as I thought I was. So that made me realize I was still in it and I still had the golf tournament to contend in.

Q. What are your emotions going to be like on the 1st tee tomorrow, and how do you deal with that pressure?

LOTTIE WOAD: I'm going to be excited to get going, excited to play the final round leading at Augusta National. It's something not many people can say they've done, so I'm going to be excited.

I'm sure there will be some nerves, but I always say, when you're nervous, it just means you care.

Q. If you look at your career record, have most of your victories been while in the lead, coming from behind, mix and match of both?

LOTTIE WOAD: I'm not sure actually. I feel like with college events you kind of just continue and play. So you don't really notice whether you're in the lead or not. You just play like 36 holes in a day really quickly.

I'm not sure on that one. I feel like it's been both really.

Q. What's been the most memorable win for you?

LOTTIE WOAD: Probably winning the British Girls before I came to the U.S. It was my last junior event, and I finished it on a nice high.

Q. You played your practice round with Charlotte today, probably played many with her coming in. How nice was it to kind of have that sort of relaxed feel?

LOTTIE WOAD: Yeah, we were just having fun. On a lot of greens, we were doing like a nearest to pin putt and all that. We obviously play practice rounds together all the time at Florida State. She was helping me a bit. We could confirm lines together, and I could ask her what yardage she's playing. So that helped.

Q. How long have you guys known each other?

LOTTIE WOAD: Probably three years, a year before I came to Florida State.

Q. Players coming in trailing said they kind of like the position they're in as the hunter. How would you describe your style of play? Are you a conservative player? Are you an aggressive player? How do you think you'll kind of manage the temptations of this golf course?

LOTTIE WOAD: I feel like I'm more on the aggressive side, but I've learned to rein that in a little bit. I feel like it's very situational. If I suddenly find myself behind, then obviously I'm going to be going for stuff more. But if you've got a lead, you should play a bit more conservatively.

I think my caddie, him being on the bag will definitely help with my decision-making a lot.

Q. One thing we've seen over the years is this course has the ability to bring the best out of a lot of players. How do you feel like you've grown having the opportunity to play this course and having the opportunity to be here at Augusta?

LOTTIE WOAD: I think playing it before, I know the lines off the tee, I can trust them. I know what to do around some of those tricky holes, like 12 was a very daunting tee shot -- it's still probably going to be, but it was a very daunting tee shot the first time. So I know a little bit more of how to play it.

Just drawing on my experiences from playing quite nicely around this course last year.