BOND HILL, Ohio− The first few months of the LPGA season has been top-heavy with nine of the first 11 titles being claimed by the top 5 players in the world.
That could change on Sunday, May 17 at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G.
When the dust settled from a soggy, cloudy third round that featured a two-hour weather delay, second-year pro Lottie Woad seized the 54-hole lead at 11-under.
Woad, who finished third in last year’s Kroger Queen City Championship, is searching for her second win since joining the LPGA Tour in 2025. As a rookie, she won the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open in July 2025 and had four top 10 finishes.
This year, she’s made the cut in 8 of 9 events with three top 10s, but was coming off missing the cut in the Mizuho Americas Open before catching fire at Maketewah.
Woad opened Saturday’s third round just one shot back of the lead and had claimed the top spot on the leaderboard before the turn.
“Yeah, I generally do look,” Woad said of watching the leaderboard mid-round. “I knew at the start I wasn’t quite in the lead, so I tried to get something going. For the back-9, I knew.”
Woad, who was even par after the first round, definitely got it going by hitting 10 of 14 fairways on Saturday and 13 of 18 greens in regulation. She suffered just two bogeys and seized control with four birdies in a five-hole stretch between Nos. 7-11.
Underdog Amanda Doherty is not a long shot in this tournament anymore. The 28-year-old has split time between the LPGA and Epson Tours this season and only got into the field at Maketewah after finishing 20th in the Riviera Maya Open in April.
Doherty shared the 36-hole lead with Jin Young Ko and now sits in second place at 8-under. Doherty trailed by as many as five strokes on the back-9, but she birdied the very tricky par-4 17th hole (Woad bogeyed) and ended the round with a par.
“There is definitely excitement, definitely nerves, but that’s what comes with it,” Doherty said. “That’s why I’m out here, to play in the final group and feel that way. It should be fun playing with Lottie (Woad) tomorrow.”
Lottie Woad shot 80-77 last week to miss the cut. This week she leads by 3 going into the final round.
Love this exchange. Says a lot about Lottie’s strong mind: pic.twitter.com/vCIeJCTYqE
— Beth Ann Nichols (@GolfweekNichols) May 17, 2026
Of course, there are still a few of the LPGA’s top names lurking on the leaderboard who are well within striking distance with 18 holes to play. Of the eight players in the top 5 going into Sunday, four are in the top 10 in the CME Globe Standings.
Woad is No. 6 and in third place is Haeran Ryu (No. 7) at 7-under. She had carded a 66 in back-to-back days and had seven birdies during the third round.
Sitting alone in fourth place is 2024 Kroger Queen City Championship winner Lydia Ko, who has three sub-70 rounds this week but was just one-under (69) in the third round. Her iron play was stellar, landing on 14 of 18 greens in regulation after hitting just half of the fairways.
Jeeno Thitikul, who has been runner-up in Cincinnati in back-to-back years, is in a five-way tie for fifth place at 5-under.
Several golfers slid further out of contention in the third round. Most notable was World No. 1 Nelly Korda, who has won three times on tour this season. Korda was three shots back heading into the round but was 2-over par (72) for her third-highest round of the season.
Korda now sits tied for 19th along with Jin Young Ko, who was tied for the lead going into Saturday but shot a 75. Jennifer Kupcho also fell to 19th after starting the day three shots back.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Lottie Woad leads Kroger Queen City Championship