Lottie Woad blew the three-stroke lead she began the day with but rallied with a one-under-par 69 in the final round to win the Kroger Queen City Championship on Sunday in Cincinnati.
The Englishwoman, buoyed by her 11-under combined showing in the second and third rounds, finished on 12 under, two strokes clear of South Korea's Haeran Ryu at 10 under.
Cavan's Leona Maguire matched the winner's closing 69, but earlier rounds of 71, 71 and 69 saw the 31-year-old finish on level par for the tournament in a share of 33rd place.
For Woad, a 22-year-old who turned pro last July, it was her second victory in her 10 months as a professional.
"Obviously very, very happy and grateful," Woad said when asked to reflect on her last 12 months, with her playing collegiately at Florida State this time last year.
"This one is definitely, I think, a little sweeter than the first one because I wasn't really expecting that. This one I've seen how good everyone is out there, so it's good to win again."
Woad began the day with a three-stroke lead over Amanda Doherty. She lost her lead with a one-under front nine paired with Ryu, who shot five under over the first nine holes.
But Ryu bogeyed the par-four 10th and then posted a double bogey at the par-four 13th, which gave Woad the lead back for good.
It was the sixth top-10 finish in 10 events this season for Ryu, who is still searching for her first 2026 win.
After Woad had a double bogey of her own at the sixth, she finished with two birdies, one bogey and a streak of pars in her final 12 holes.
"I think I just played pretty good tee-to-green. I hit a lot of greens, hit a lot of fairways," Woad said. "And it's pretty windy out there, so I think that was the key obviously to having the lead."
Japan's Miyu Yamashita recorded the low round of the day with a 64 to surge into solo third place at nine under.
Ruoning Yin of China finished in fourth place in eight under after a closing 66.
World number one Nelly Korda saw her streak of back-to-back victories snapped, but back-doored a top-10 finish with a tie for eighth at five under after a round of 67.
