Staff WriterThe Augusta National Women’s Amateur tees off Wednesday, April 2, and two of England Golf’s finest young women are heading straight into the lion’s den—or, more accurately, the immaculately manicured paradise that is Augusta National.
Walking those hallowed fairways, let alone competing on them, is a rare opportunity, but these two are prepared to make history.
Augusta National – the hallowed ground of The Masters – will once again welcome the world’s top-ranked amateur, Lottie Woad, as she looks to pull off an encore worthy of a standing ovation.
In 2024, she lit up Amen Corner and beyond, rattling off three birdies in her final four holes to snatch victory and become the first European ever to win the event. Not bad for a Sunday stroll through golf’s most sacred garden.
This year will be Lottie’s third ANWA event, while her England Golf teammate, Patience Rhodes, will be stepping out to play the event for the first time ever. We caught up with both players ahead of the event, which you can watch live on Sky Sports…
Patient Patience prepares for first Augusta experience
Congratulations on earning an invitation to the ANWA, have you had any tips from any professionals on how to play the course?!
“I haven’t had any tips from pros but I’ve spoken to Lottie because obviously she’s won it.
I think I’m just going to follow her tips and tricks although I still have yet to receive those tips. I think she’s waiting till I get there.
She’s keeping them quite close to her chest! I’m actually practising with Lottie at Champions Retreat and Augusta, so hopefully her and Robbo (Steve Robinson, England Golf Women’s Lead Coach) can help me out on the golf course.”
How inspirational was Lottie’s win?
“It was crazy. Me and Beth (Coulter – Arizona State University teammate and Golf Ireland international) were actually watching it here at the golf facility, and it was on TV.
When Lottie holed that 12-footer on the last and you could just see Robbo going mental in the background with his arms up, it was so cool!
I took a video of it and sent it to her, she responded pretty quickly but I think she was still in shock, but it was so cool to see her do that.
It’s so inspiring and she’s gone through England Golf, so just having that support system and knowing that that’s working for her, and working for all of us coming up, it’s just a great inspiration and it’s really motivating for all of us.”
How did you find out that you were playing in the ANWA? What was your reaction?!
“I wasn’t really sure whether I was going to get in or not, so I kept talking to my coaches.
I was kind of like, “Have you got anything in the mail? Like, what’s going on?!”, because obviously it comes through the mail – no one tells you about it online.
And then my coach said: “Nothing’s come through,” and literally like that day, I texted again. I was like, are you sure? And they said: “We’ll talk to you when you get here.”
They came to the locker room with the letter and it was so exciting after that. I just knew it was that, and called my family straight away.
It was really cool to get the invitation and I had a glass of champagne with some friends to celebrate!
I still can’t quite comprehend the fact that I’m actually going to Augusta, and that it’s in like a week, so I’m just going to soak everything in, get every little experience I can out of it. I’m so excited, I can’t wait.”
Which hole are you most looking forward to?
“The par-3 16th. I’ve heard it’s really challenging. You have to get the right number, otherwise you know there’s water in the front and then there’s back bunkers.
I’m really excited to see that in person because I’ve seen it on TV so much at The Masters. That hole and 18 will be pretty cool.”
You’ve gained some vital experience playing and winning the Curtis Cup last year in front of TV cameras, how will that help you ahead of the ANWA?
“It’s helped a ton. Obviously having that TV experience, I won’t be going in as nervous with all those cameras.
It was a great help having all that experience and the crowds obviously watching us play golf was a great set-up for Augusta.”
How do you feel the start of 2025 has gone and what are your targets looking forward?
“Yeah, I’ve played pretty well this year. I’ve had like six top-10s. We’ve got another tournament just before we leave for Augusta, which is Friday through Sunday.
Then I leave for Augusta Monday, so hopefully that’s a nice little warm-up. After Augusta, we just have conference regionals and nationals, so I’m aiming for more top-10s or hopefully a win at one of those.”
Your friend Beth Coulter is playing in the ANWA too, that’ll be great for you to experience together won’t it?
“This is her first time too. She just got her invitation about a month ago. We’re like best friends and it’s going to be so much fun to experience the ANWA together.”
Your sister Mimi won on the Ladies European Tour last week, how special was that to see?!
“It was so inspiring. My whole family were awake watching it and then just to see her finish and winning that tournament, I’ve never been so motivated to play, because obviously I want to do better than her!
I’m just really motivated now to keep practising, just trying to do as well as she is. But yeah, I definitely shed a tear, it was a very proud moment.”
Can Lottie light up Augusta once again?
Lottie, it’s been a great start to the year hasn’t it – talk us through your college season so far in 2025?
“We’ve played around six events, and yeah, I’ve just played pretty solid, got a couple of wins and, most importantly, I didn’t finish outside the top three.
I’ve been consistent and in contention around the lead, which I’m happy with, and everything’s feeling pretty solid heading into the ANWA.
It’s all positives really. I’ve seen some improvements on certain parts of my game that I was working on during the off-season, inside like 75 yards, so that’s always nice to see.
There are definitely some things I could work on but it’s always nice just to see the areas that you’re working on improving in the stats.”
You landed your first ever hole-in-one last week, tell us about that?!
“I hadn’t had one before, so that was nice. It was funny because I had a message on Instagram from one of the England Golf coaches a week before, asking if I’d ever had a hole-in-one, and I was like “Oh, I’m gonna try and get one!”. I then got one almost straight away, so that was funny! It was an 8-iron from 159 yards downhill. I saw it go in which was nice!”
What is it like to drive down Magnolia Lane knowing all the greats before you that have been there?!
“It’s always special. I’ve been the last two years and it was incredible the first time and you still kind of get all the same feelings when you go back.
The drive is so special and then seeing the course, once you’ve seen it on TV, you get to see all the holes you’ve watched certain players play, and you get to play them yourself.
It’s really special. It is just like what you see on TV. It’s very green, the grass is very green and it’s kind of just like you’re hitting off the carpet really. It’s perfect.
And then you have all the trees and the flowers in full bloom for April which is pretty cool.
It’s very colourful and while some might say it doesn’t meet the expectations of what you see on TV, I would say it definitely does.
Last year after the win, the next day I got to go into the clubhouse and got to have a tour, see the Crow’s Nest, which we don’t have access to, so that was all really cool.
When I was in the clubhouse they arranged for me to meet Danny Willett too which was cool.”
No doubt you’ll be looking to defend your title this year?!
“I’m obviously trying to win it again but the main aim is to stay in contention for the final day at Augusta and see where that puts me.
But it would be cool to go back-to-back. That said, anyone in the field really can win it, they are the best 70 in the world so it wouldn’t surprise me if anyone was challenging and I could name most of the field really!”
You’ll be joined by England Women’s teammate Patience Rhodes at Augusta this year. What advice have you got for her?
“Just to enjoy it and have fun. Not everyone gets to experience this and take it all in but at the same time, it can be tough to focus on the golf during your first time.
There are a lot of new things so I think you just have to make sure you get everything done that you need to do and get everything ready for the tournament.
We have so many commitments during the week aside from golf that we have to do, so it’s just about managing time.”
What other events are big ones on your radar this year?
“We’re into the close season with the college season now, we’ve got our conference championships coming up and then regionals and nationals and then straight after that I’ve got the US Open.”
Will you be looking forward to some of the events representing England and being back alongside some friends and coaches?
“I see most of our team because we’re based in the US, so I see them at a lot of college events, which is nice, but yeah, getting to catch up with some of the coaches I don’t see as often will be nice.”
