PORTHCAWL, Wales — The AIG Women’s Open marks the final major of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, and the field this week at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club in Wales is chock full of the world’s best players, with the entirety of the top 25 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and all 20 of this season’s LPGA Tour winners set to tee it up. With so many incredible talents to keep an eye on, here are three players to really watch as they try to track down a major trophy at what is a brand-new venue to the professional women’s game.

Lottie Woad

Englishwoman Lottie Woad is the favorite in the AIG Women’s Open field, something that might be a bit of a surprise considering she was still an amateur just a couple of weeks ago. The last month has seen the 21-year-old go on a spectacular run that began on the Ladies European Tour when Woad won by six strokes over Madelene Sagstrom at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open.

The next week saw the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion very nearly win again, as Woad finished one shot out of a playoff at The Amundi Evian Championship and ultimately tied for third alongside 11-time LPGA Tour winner Minjee Lee. Even though she didn’t capture her first major title at Evian Resort Golf Club, Woad still managed to earn her LPGA Tour card after securing the 20th and final point she needed to qualify for Tour status via the LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway, a new LPGA program that gives top amateurs a way to earn membership using a weighted points system.

Woad is the first athlete to meet the 20-point threshold and announced the Tuesday after the year’s fourth major championship that she would be turning pro and accepting the automatic membership she earned through LEAP. The Farnham, England native then made her professional debut at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open and picked up a victory in her first pro start, winning by three strokes at Dundonald Links to become the 2025 season’s eighth Rolex First-Time Winner.

Now, the AIG Women’s Open will mark Woad’s first professional start in a major championship, and considering that she is a combined 55 under par in her last three worldwide starts and boasts a scoring average of 67.3 across those 12 rounds played, this superstar-in-the-making is certainly someone to keep an eye on throughout the week in Wales.

Celine Boutier

Frenchwoman Celine Boutier is making her 10th start in the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl and is an athlete who certainly has a resume on links-style layouts that points to her having success in Wales. In terms of her performances in this major championship, Boutier has tallied four top-25 finishes, two of which are top 10s that she posted in 2019 at Woburn (6) and in 2022 at Muirfield (T7).

In the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open, the one other true links test that’s annually on the LPGA Tour’s schedule, Boutier has never finished worse than T35 in her seven starts in that event and even won it for the first time back in 2023. She also has two other top-10 results on her Women’s Scottish Open resume, a tie for seventh that Boutier posted in 2021 at Dumbarnie Links and a solo second that came in 2022 at Dundonald Links.

As it concerns her season-long statistics, the 31-year-old is second on the LPGA Tour this season in birdies (207), tied for third in par-5 scoring average (4.58) and tied for sixth in rounds in the 60s (21). Boutier is also ranked inside the top 30 of a few strokes gained categories according to KPMG Performance Insights, including strokes gained approach (21, +0.62), strokes gained total (24, +1.24) and strokes gained putting (29, +0.60).

Stephanie Kyriacou

It would be a whiff to not include at least one Australian on this list, as Aussies have captured two major championship victories already this season, so consider Stephanie Kyriacou this week when looking at the AIG Women’s Open leaderboard.

The 24-year-old has played in five previous editions of this major tournament, only missing one cut and tallying two top-14 results after tying for 13th in 2021 at Carnoustie and tying for seventh in 2022 at Muirfield. Kyriacou also has earned one strong finish at the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open, a tie for 13th that came in 2023 at Dundonald Links.

This is Kyriacou’s 15th tournament of the 2025 LPGA Tour season, and so far, she has collected three top-10 results, the most recent of which is a tie for fifth that she recorded in May at the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club. Statistically, Kyriacou is picking up shots in several strokes gained categories this season, most notably ranking 37th in strokes gained total, per KPMG Performance Insights data.

Players to Watch: 2025 AIG Women’s Open

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