Woad five behind as Japanese duo lead Women's Open

AIG Women's Open 2025 - first round leaderboard

-5 Okayama (Jpn), Takeda (Jpn); -4 Yamashita (Jpn)

Selected others

-3 Chun (Kor), Rhodes (Eng), Saigo (Jpn); -2 Harry (Wal), Korda (US), M Lee (Aus), Thitikul (Tha); E Woad (Eng); +1 Hull (Eng), Ko (NZ); +2 Vu (US)

Full leaderboard

Lottie Woad shot a level-par first round to lie five shots off the AIG Women's Open lead jointly held by Japanese duo Eri Okayama and Rio Takeda.

England's Woad began as favourite at Royal Porthcawl, having won two events and narrowly missing out on a first major title in July.

The 21-year-old, playing in her second tournament since turning professional, made lengthy birdie putts at the first and sixth holes as she reached the turn in level par.

A superb approach to within four feet set up another birdie at the 14th and Woad also birdied the last to sign for a 72.

However, she was unable to build any real momentum during her opening round and some solid putting for pars and bogeys prevented irretrievable damage to her tournament chances.

"It was a bit mixed," Woad said. "It's one of those rounds that could have got away from me so I am happy I hung in there."

Scoring was generally good on a breezy day when short bursts of rain punctured longer spells of sunshine at the links course in south Wales.

Okayama, appearing at a Women's Open for the first time since 2018, did not drop a shot after a bogey at the first hole and made six birdies in her round of 67.

The only blemish on Takeda's scorecard was a double-bogey seven at the ninth, with four birdies on the back nine putting her alongside Okayama at the top of the leaderboard.

Defending champion Lydia Ko finished one over par, while 2023 winner Lilia Vu recovered from a run of four consecutive bogeys on the front nine to post a two-over-par 74.

World number one Nelly Korda shot a solid two-under-par 70, while England's Charley Hull ended one over.

England's Mimi Rhodes is the leading Briton among a large group at three under par, while the two Welsh players in the 144-strong field were among those to make solid starts.

Royal Porthcawl member Darcey Harry ended two under and Lydia Hall, who made it through qualifying to secure her place, carded a level-par 72.

Harry said: "I didn't think I would come off with two under par today. I am not too sure why - I was just super nervous - but it was great out there."

Woad is inevitably the centre of attention at Royal Porthcawl after a quite incredible month.

Surrey-born Woad started July by winning the Irish Open, before finishing in a tie for third spot at the Evian Championship - the fourth of five women's majors during the calendar year.

Because she was appearing as an amateur, she could not collect a combined figure of close to £500,000 in prize money from those two tournaments.

Those performances helped her reach the threshold for LPGA Tour eligibility and she turned professional before last week's Scottish Open - an event she would go on to win.

This all came after her victory at the 2024 Augusta National Women's Amateur and finishing as the leading amateur in a tie for 10th place at last year's Women's Open at St Andrews.

She is far from out of contention after round one, but also has some work to do to ensure she makes the halfway cut.

Woad will start her second round at 08:09 BST on Friday and will be playing again with Ko and Vu, the past two Women's Open champions.

Hull, the runner-up in 2023, went through a topsy-turvy first round.

The 29-year-old, who was forced to withdraw from the Evian Championship earlier this month because of a virus, was three over par after three holes during a challenging opening stretch of the course.

She then surged back with five birdies in six holes around the turn to get to two under, before four consecutive bogeys on the way home stalled her momentum and she signed for a 73 after a birdie at the last.

Hull's playing partners Jeeno Thitikul and Minjee Lee ended two under.

Thitikul, the world number two from Thailand, briefly led on four under but stumbled with two bogeys in her final three holes.