Amid her historic summer on the links, English amateur and rising Florida State senior Charlotte "Lottie" Woad is officially turning pro, accepting LPGA membership two days after nearly topping the 2025 Evian Championship leaderboard.
One week after becoming the first amateur to win a European Tour tournament since 2022 — with the 21-year-old taking the 2025 Irish Open title by a massive six-stroke margin — Woad came within one stroke of becoming the first amateur to win an LPGA major in 58 years.
Sunday's finale saw world No. 25 Grace Kim emerge as the 2025 Evian Champion, with the Australian taking the title following a playoff with Thailand's No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul.
Both Kim and Thitikul finished the tournament at 14-under-par, while Woad trailed a single stroke behind to tie 2021 Evian winner and Australia's No. 5 Minjee Lee for third-place in the LPGA Grand Slam.
Unlike Lee, who banked $547,200 for her efforts, Woad's amateur status means she had to forgo what would have been her share of the $8 million purse.
"I did have a look after and was like, 'oh no,'" joked Woad about Lee's check.

Woad to make pro debut next week
That all changes now, though, as Woad's finish made her the first player eligible to join the LPGA through the governing body's new lite Amateur Pathway (LEAP) program, in which top young golfers amass points to earn pro membership.
While the world's highest-ranking amateur initially said she would take the week to weigh turning pro with returning to Florida State for her final NCAA year, Woad made her decision to turn pro Tuesday morning.
In addition to accepting the LPGA membership, she will also join the European Tour in 2026 — an invite Woad earned with her Irish Open win.
"I have only reached this point in my career through the help and support that I've received from so many people and organisations over many years," Woad wrote in an Instagram post thanking her family and coaches. "I am very excited about this next chapter."
Woad's next chapter is imminent, as the world No. 64 announced her professional debut at the 2025 Scottish Open next week.
The field of established golf pros are already on notice, with Sweden's No. 30 Madelene Sagström warning that "[Woad is] going to take European and American golf by storm very soon."
The fourth major championship of the 2025 LPGA season teed off on Thursday, as golf's best gathered to compete for the $8 million overall purse at the Evian Championship in Évian-les-Bains, France.
Along with eight other past champions, 25-year-old Japanese golfer and world No. 16 Ayaka Furue entered this week's edition looking to defend her 2024 title, finishing the opening round at four-under-par to sit in a respectable nine-way tie for seventh place.
No. 17 Céline Boutier, the 2023 champion, trailed Furue by one stroke, with the Frenchwoman heading into Friday's second round tied for 16th with six other golfers, including the US's No. 35 Megan Khang.
Currently leading the US contingent are No. 36 Andrea Lee and No. 38 Jennifer Kupcho, whose six-under opening round has them tied with three others at the top of the 2025 Evian Championship leaderboard.
Two strokes below the leaders — and clustered in that seventh-place tie with Furue — is world No. 1 Nelly Korda, making a solid start by finishing the day with four straight birdies.
Korda is hunting both a third career major title and her first win of the 2025 LPGA season this week.
"Overall, a couple parts of my game helped me and rescued me, and the other parts let me down," said Korda, following her opening round play. "That's golf. Just going to try and figure it out on the range."
Should Korda, or the other US contenders, finish the weekend atop the field, the US could see its first Evian champion since Angela Stanford in 2018.
How to watch the 2025 Evian Championship
The 2025 Evian Championship runs through Sunday, with live coverage airing on the Golf Channel.
Australian golfer Minjee Lee came out on top at the 2025 KPMG Women's PGA Championship, lifting the third major tournament trophy of her career on Sunday.
Entering the final round atop the leaderboard, Lee never relinquished the lead, finishing the tournament a solid three strokes ahead of the competition.
"I definitely was nervous starting the day," the 29-year-old acknowledged following her win. "I looked calm, but not as calm as everybody thinks."
The win earned Lee both an 18-spot rankings boost to world No. 6 and a $1.8 million cut of the event's $12 million prize pool.
Finishing the 2025 KPMG Women's PGA Championship just behind Lee in a second-place tie were 21-year-old Thai pro and new world No. 29 Chanettee Wannasaen and 24-year-old US standout and new No. 49 Auston Kim. Each took home $944,867 thanks to their four-day performances.
Kim, in particular, cobbled together a massive comeback run, chipping away at her nine-stroke deficit entering the competition's final round to claim the best finish of her young career.
"I'm very proud of what I did," the LPGA Tour sophomore said afterwards. "Obviously, the result was really good, but I'm really happy how I handled myself, my emotions, all the adversity. The course is playing really, really tough, but I feel like this week my team and I were very locked in."
Notably, the tournament's top three finishers were the only participants to finish below par, as the field struggled with a punishing week of both Texas heat and windier-than-usual conditions.
The LPGA Tour has turned its attention to Texas, with the 2025 KPMG Women's PGA Championship — the third major of the pro golf season — teeing off in Frisco to a flurry of first-round action on Thursday.
All of the sport's Top 100 athletes are participating in this week's event, including No. 1 Nelly Korda, who sits in a 14th-place tie with an even-par first-round performance, and surging US dark horse No. 50 Lexi Thompson, who tied for 10th in her Thursday return from a brief retirement.
However, leading the pack heading into Friday's second round is Thailand's world No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul, who finished the first day of competition atop the leaderboard with a score of 4-under-par.
Australia's No. 24 Minjee Lee also posted a strong start, capping Thursday at 3-under to sit in second place.
While the sport's best chase victory on the links, the 2025 KPMG Women's PGA Championship is already making history off the green.
Not only is it the first-ever women's major to tee off at Frisco's Fields Ranch East, the tournament also increased its purse to $12 million on Tuesday — nearly tripling the $4.5 million prize pool from just four years ago and tying the US Women's Open for the LPGA Tour's highest payout in the process.
How to watch the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
The third LPGA Grand Slam of 2025 continues through Sunday.
Friday's second round will air live on the Golf Channel, while coverage of Saturday and Sunday's final rounds will air across NBC and Peacock.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda clocked her best finish of the 2025 season at this weekend's US Women's Open, tying Japan's No. 14 Rio Takeda for second place as the decorated US golfer continues to hunt her first LPGA Tour win of the year.
"When you come so close and you kind of feel that adrenaline coming down 18, the one thing that you want to do is hold the trophy at the end of the day," Korda said afterwards. "And I'm not."
That said, Korda's second-place finish marks her best showing yet at the US Women's Open, and a significant boost from last year's edition in which she failed to make the cut following an 80-stroke opening round.
"To have that showing last year definitely put a dagger into my heart, but that's just golf," the 26-year-old said after the tournament. "You're going to lose more than you win a majority of the time."
"I feel like I actually learn a lot about myself and my game and where I need to improve playing the US Women's Open because it does test every part of your game," Korda added.

Stark, Cooper climb leaderboard at US Women's Open
While the second-place finish earned Korda and Takeda each a check for $1,052,621, it was Sweden's No. 6 Maja Stark whose two-shot lead had her walking away with both her first career major trophy and the $2.4 million winner’s purse — the largest payday in the sport.
"It feels so surreal, and it felt like it was so far away just a couple of weeks ago," said the 25-year-old after claiming the title.
Notably, another US golfer walked away with a large paycheck, as world No. 155 Hailee Cooper finished the tournament tied for seventh to take home $358,004.
The 25-year-old, who competes on the developmental Epson Tour in hopes of earning LPGA membership, banked just under $50,000 in her 2025 play before becoming the second-best US finisher in the 2025 US Women's Open on Sunday — Cooper's first-ever LPGA Tour event as a pro.
"I walked out and [the officials] go, 'So you want to see the money?'" Cooper said about her Top 10 finish. "I walked up and I immediately started crying when I saw the numbers. I'm like, 'Oh, gosh, there are six of them.'"
"It's life changing for sure," she explained. "It makes professional golf a lot easier financially now, so it will be really nice."
The LPGA Tour's largest purse is back on the line, as the 2025 US Women's Open hits the links at Wisconsin's Erin Hills Golf Course on Thursday.
The oldest of the Tour's five major championships, the US Women's Open is now in its 80th year.
In partnership with tournament sponsor Ally, the event's $12 million overall prize money makes it the most lucrative competition in women's golf, with a $2.4 million check going to the eventual winner.
World No. 35 Yuka Saso of Japan, the 2021 and 2024 US Women's Open champion, is back to defend her title alongside eight other former tournament winners, including 2023 victor and current No. 38 Allisen Corpuz (USA) and 2022 champ No. 22 Minjee Lee (Australia).
Also vying for this year's trophy are all 12 2025 LPGA Tour victors, headlined by world No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul (Thailand) and No. 3 Lydia Ko (New Zealand), as well as the two title-winners from the US — No. 11 Angel Yin and No. 18 Yealimi Noh.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda leads 24 of the sport's Top 25 players on the 2025 US Women's Open course, as the US star still searches for her first victory of the season.
How to watch the US Women's Open
The US Women's Open tees off at 6:45 AM ET on Thursday, with coverage of the LPGA major kicking off at 12 PM ET across USA Network and Peacock.
Sunday's championship-winning final round will air live beginnning at 2 PM ET on NBC.
The LPGA is back on the East Coast with the 2025 Mizuho Americas Open teeing off in New Jersey on Thursday, with defending champ Nelly Korda on the hunt for her first win of the year.
After an unprecedented 2024 run, the world No. 1 golfer has struggled to regain her consistency this season, despite strong individual rounds.
"I've had some really good rounds, and some iffy rounds as well," the 26-year-old told reporters earlier this week. "But I think that's just the game of golf — it's life, it's up, it's down, it's never going to be easy. And when you think you've got it figured out, it's going to humble you very quickly."
Korda isn't alone in her 2025 Americas Open pursuit, as fellow US star Rose Zhang makes her return to the links this week — despite battling a lingering neck injury.
The world No. 26 golfer, who turns 22 years old at the end of this month, won the inaugural Americas Open in her 2023 pro debut, but sat out last month's Chevron Championship — the year's first major — citing neck discomfort.
"I will say that I'm pain-free right now, which I'm very thankful for," Zhang told Golf Digest. "I never realized, and obviously it goes unsaid, but the neck is very important for anything that you do."
In addition to another chance to get back on course, Korda and Zhang will also be chasing the lion's share of the four-day tournament's $3 million purse — one of the largest non-major prize pools on the LPGA schedule.
Notably, the Americas Open follows a unique format, inviting 24 top American Junior Golf Association players to tee off alongside the LPGA Tour's 120 best at Liberty National Golf Club.
How to watch the 2025 Mizuho Americas Open
Coverage of the 2025 Mizuho Americas Open starts at 11 AM ET on Thursday.
The Golf Channel will stream the tournament through Sunday morning, with the competition's final round airing live at 1 PM ET on Sunday on CBS.
The LPGA season's first Grand Slam tees off in Texas on Thursday, when the world's top golfers will compete for a piece of the $8 million purse at the 2025 Chevron Championship.
After a record-breaking 2024 run, world No. 1 Nelly Korda enters her 10th Chevron Championship as the tournament's reigning champion, though the 26-year-old US star has yet to win a major event this year.
Korda will be attempting to hold off some of the sport's biggest names this weekend, as the 132-player field includes 24 of the world's top 25 golfers and all eight champions from the 2025 LPGA Tour so far.
Joining Korda in seeking another victory at the event are the annual tournament's 2023 winner, world No. 4 Lilia Vu, and 2022 champion No. 53 Jennifer Kupcho.
Both Korda and Vu are returning to play after dealing with lingering injuries, while fellow US golfer Kupcho hasn't won an LPGA Tour event since July 2022.
Other US players to watch include No. 8 Lauren Coughlin, fresh off a third-place finish at the 2025 LA Championship, and No. 58 Lexi Thompson, with the 2014 Chevron champion emerging from retirement to compete in her first tournament of 2025.
Rising international stars like Sweden's No. 42 Ingrid Lindblad as well as Japan's No. 17 Rio Takeda and twin sisters No. 18 Akie and No. 41 Chisato Iwai are also favorites to claim the 2025 Chevron trophy.
How to watch the 2025 Chevron Championship
The 2025 Chevron Championship tees off on Thursday at 8:15 AM ET.
Select live coverage of the four-day tournament will air across ESPN+, The Golf Channel, and NBC/Peacock.
Before the LPGA’s biggest names gear up for next week’s Chevron Championship, many are turning to this week's 2025 JM Eagle LA Championship for a chance to sharpen their skills — and pad their bank accounts.
A total of $3.75 million is on the line in Southern California, where 144 of the world's top golfers will take aim at a piece of one of the largest non-major purses on the LPGA Tour.
The stars will be out in full force when the LA Championship's first round begins on Thursday, including 16 of the world's Top 25 golfers, led by No. 1 Nelly Korda in her first return to El Caballero since 2023.
After sitting out several late-season 2024 tournaments with a neck injury, Korda has maintained her fitness through 2025, taking a planned seven-week break before rejoining the Tour last month.
"I kind of have the first part of [the] year until Chevron kind of set," Korda told reporters about her 2025 schedule in January. "After that, it'll be just how my body is feeling."

Defending champ Hannah Green uses third title hunt to give back
While Korda is sure to draw crowds, all eyes will be on Australia’s Hannah Green as the world No. 5 golfer attempts to secure a third straight LA Championship title.
Green is already off to a strong start this year, earning two top 10 finishes in her first four 2025 tournaments.
The reigning champion is also giving back, pledging $500 for every birdie and $1,000 for each eagle she makes this week to the Los Angeles Fireman's Relief Association in the wake of January's destructive wildfires.
"California has been such a special place to my heart, so I want to give back in any way possible," the 28-year-old explained.
How to watch the LPGA Tour at the 2025 LA Championship
The first round of the 2025 JM Eagle LA Championship tees off on Thursday morning.
Coverage of each of the tournament's four rounds will air daily at 6 PM ET on The Golf Channel.
After a planned seven-week break from the LPGA Tour, world No. 1 golfer Nelly Korda is back in action, with the US star beginning her 2024 title defense at the 2025 Ford Championship on Thursday afternoon.
While last year’s inaugural event saw Korda in the midst of a historic five-tournament winning streak, the 26-year-old has been more strategic with her participation this year, sitting out the tour’s recent Asia swing after kicking off her 2025 campaign with two Top 10 finishes.
"I mean, it’s always nice to take time off where you’re not injured and you're kind of trying to hopefully become better and catch up on maybe some lost time," she told Golfweek on Wednesday.
Incorporating rest is a strategy world No. 3 Lydia Ko is also employing this year, as the New Zealander travels to the Phoenix, Arizona, event after a three-week break of her own. Ko is also packing winning momentum in her golf bag this weekend, having snagged her 23rd career title at the 2025 HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore on March 2nd.
Joining Korda and Ko on this weekend's Ford Championship links are all 10 of the LPGA's top-ranked golfers, who will be competing together for the first time this year at the event.
That means Australia's world No. 5 Hannah Green, the US star No. 6 Lilia Vu, and South Korea standout No. 8 Jin Young Ko will all be competing for a chunk of the $2.25 million purse.

Top LPGA golfers take aim at low-scoring history
With Phoenix's warm climate known for producing low golf scores, this weekend's at the 2025 Ford Championship athletes will also take a swing at history by chasing the near-impossible single-round score of 59.
"That's kind of like the trend of golf here in Arizona," said Korda about the area's ideal setting for the sport. "I mean, the weather is usually perfect. The grass is usually perfect as well. So that all sets up for low scoring ability, and then it's hot, so it flies really far. So the par 5s are pretty reachable."
Korda once came close to the elusive score during her 2021 Olympic gold medal-winning run in Tokyo, though a few extra late swings saw her finish the round at 62.
"I came pretty close at the Olympics, then I doubled my last one," she explained. "It was like starting to creep into my head and I was like, yeah, I don't even think about it, no."
If any of this weekend's LPGA stars do snag a sub-60 round, they'll become just the second LPGA player to ever do so, joining former pro Annika Sörenstam, whose historic 59 came in Phoenix in 2001.
How to watch Nelly Korda at the 2025 Ford Championship
Running through Sunday's fourth and final round, the 2025 Ford Championship tees off on Thursday, with streaming coverage beginning at 6 PM ET and broadcast coverage airing at 7 PM ET.
All rounds of the tournament will air on the Golf Channel.