England’s Lottie Woad continued her excellent form at the 2025 KPMG Women’s Irish Open firing a bogey-free 67 (-6) to hold a seven-shot lead heading into the final day.
The world number one amateur held a three-shot lead at the halfway stage at Carton House, A Fairmont Managed Hotel, and picked up where she left off on Saturday.
Woad began the day with a birdie on the first before making another on the third hole, and she continued to stretch her advantage with birdies at six and eight to make the turn in four-under.
The 21-year-old also rolled in back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16 before a great par-save on 17 to finish the day on six-under-par and sit atop the leaderboard with a score of 17-under-par.
“I’m very happy with that, I was trying to extend the lead today if possible and keep playing how I was playing the previous days,” said Woad. “Everything went pretty well.
“The front nine I played really nicely and was stress-free, the back nine I had to make a few par-saves, but I chipped in pretty well and made some up-and-downs, which kept the momentum.
“[On 17] I got a flier off the fairway, which was miles long, and then that chip wasn’t the easiest from there. The par putt looked like it was going to miss right, but then it dropped back at the end, which was nice.”
The last time an amateur won a Ladies European Tour (LET) event was back in 2022 when Jana Melichova secured victory at the 2022 Tipsport Czech Ladies Open.
With a seven-stroke lead, Woad wants to see out the victory on Sunday and will continue to be aggressive on the golf course.
She continued: “I want to win it, I’m going to keep playing my game and see where it puts me and keep playing well. I think you can still be pretty aggressive on this golf course.
“On 15, I could maybe get to the green, but it was a risk into wind, so I did the lay-up and made birdie. There will be things like that where I might lay-up, but I will definitely be aggressive because there’s a score out there and I don’t want to play too conservative.”
Sweden’s Madelene Sagström is in outright second place on 10-under-par after a round of 70 (-3) on day three.
The Solheim Cup star rolled in birdies on the fourth and sixth holes before a dropped shot on the ninth.
However, she made a further birdie on 15 before finishing in style with a birdie on 18 to move into second place.
“It was not as breezy as yesterday afternoon, but it picked up,” said the Swedish star. “It’s tricky when it’s windy. I feel like I hit the ball better yesterday, better off the tee.
“I struggled a bit and as soon as you miss the fairways, it’s harder to judge what’s going to happen. I’m happy I hung in there and with how I played. You can always play better, but still a good day on the course.
“Lottie [Woad] is obviously playing great golf. I know how good a player she is, I have played with her many times. She’s a really good player, really solid. It doesn’t mean we can’t go low, but it will be a big task for sure.
“It’s never impossible, it’s still golf. I had a really good round going Thursday, so I know I can go low. This golf course suits my eye, so roll some putts in tomorrow and you never know.”
Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley had a steady day carding a round of 71 (-2), which included three birdies and one bogey to be in solo third place on nine-under-par.
“It was tough to keep up with Lottie [Woad] today, she played really well,” said Rudgeley. “I didn’t have my best golf out there which is why I’m going to the putting green to practice. It’s another day tomorrow, we’ll see what happens. I’m enjoying it, it’s good fun and the spectators are awesome. I’m embracing it.
“I couldn’t really get anything going today, there were no major issues. We will go again tomorrow and see what happens. The things I’ve been working on are coming together, I feel I slacked off a little bit on them today, so I’ll make sure I do them tomorrow.”
Five players share fourth place with France’s Anne-Charlotte Mora, Spain’s Blanca Fernandez, New Zealand’s Amelia Garvey, England’s Charley Hull and Switzerland’s Chiara Tamburlini all on eight-under-par.
Ireland’s Anna Foster and Alexandra Swayne of the U.S. Virgin Islands are one shot further back in T9.
Foster was one of three players to card a 67 (-6) on day three – the other two being leader Woad and England’s Meghan MacLaren, who is now T15.
The final round will begin at 7.24 am (local time) with the leading group teeing off at 11.45 am on the O’Meara Course at Carton House.
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