Hannah Darling sets sights on emulating Augusta National Women's Amateur winner Lottie Woad

Scot takes huge positives from top-ten finish and is determined to be back again next year

Broomieknowe's Hannah Darling tees off at the seventh hole in the final round of the Augusta National Women's Amateur at Augusta National Golf Club. Picture: ANWA

Hannah Darling watched Lottie Woad create history as the first Great Britain & Ireland player to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and is determined to emulate the English player in 12 months’ time.

Woad, a 20-year-old from Surrey, finished birdie-birdie at Augusta National to claim victory by a shot over Bailey Shoemaker after the American had signed off the 54-hole event with a record final-round 66.

It was a spectacular finish from Woad, who’d led after the opening two circuits at Champions Retreat but found herself trailing by two shots with five holes to play before producing something special to join Jennifer Kupcho, Tsubasa Kajitani, Anna Davis and Rose Zhang as Augusta National Women’s Amateur champions.

England's Lottie Woad poses with the trophy after winning the Augusta National Women's Amateur at Augusta National Golf Club. Picture: Augusta National Women's Amateur.

“To be in the mix on the back nine at Augusta is something that everyone dreams about,” admitted the winner of the 2022 R&A Girls’ Amateur Championship at Carnoustie. “So I was trying to really embrace it. I didn't really have anything to lose at that point. I'm just a pretty competitive person, so I obviously wanted to win.”

Darling, who’d led after an opening six-under 66 at Champions Retreat, also had cause to feel pleased with her effort as the 20-year-old Broomieknowe player finished seventh after a closing level-par 72.

“Yeah, I had a lot of fun,” declared the Scottish No 1. “I would love to go back out there and do it all over again. Today was a great day. I feel like I played a lot better than my score. I just had a few putts that just didn't drop.”

This was Darling’s third consecutive appearance in the event and the University of South Carolina player has already set her sights on being back next year try and improve on this effort.

“If everything goes to plan, I'll be playing here next year,” said the player who won the R&A Girls’ title the year before Woad. “I'm not saying that out here (Augusta National) is particularly easy, but I think everyone somewhat looks at Champions Retreat as maybe the harder course, especially the way they conditioned it on Thursday.

“I think I just proved to myself that I can go put a really low score out there at Champions Retreat. I've put myself in a position that I've not been in for a while. I've not led a tournament for a while. There's emotions that you don't feel for a while that are kind of a little bit new. You dust off the cobwebs and stuff. But I loved being in that position, and I loved being out here today with somewhat of a chance, and I can't wait to be in that position again.”

Darling will now turn her attention to school exams on Monday and Tuesday before she gets back to team action with the Gamecocks. “We travel to SECs (Southeastern Conference) on Wednesday,” she said. “Then we've got finals a few weeks after that. Then we go into post-season events with Regionals and Nationals. Our team at South Carolina, we're in a really good place right now, so I'm really excited to see what the next few months hold.”