Florida State freshman, just days after burning redshirt, sizzles in debut

MELBOURNE, Fla. – Lottie Woad was her usual self on Sunday afternoon, unflappable in gusty conditions as the world No. 1 birdied two of her final three holes to shoot 1-under 71 and lead Florida State to the first-round lead at the Moon Golf Invitational, which has established itself in recent years as one of the premier events on the women’s college golf calendar.

This year, Suntree Country Club welcomed 11 of the top-25 teams in the country, including No. 4 South Carolina, No. 6 Texas and the seventh-ranked Seminoles, who arguably boast the best one-two punch in the country in Woad and Mirabel Ting, the world’s third-ranked amateur and a three-time winner this season – in as many starts.

And then there’s Layla Pedrique.

Never heard of her? Well, that’s because she’s only been in college for about a month. The 18-year-old Pedrique hails from West Palm Beach, Florida, and graduated from Florida Virtual School a year early. Rather than wait until the fall to join the Seminoles, Florida State head coach Amy Bond suggested that Pedrique enroll this spring, redshirt and allow herself time to acclimate to the next level.

That plan, of course, was thrown out the window last week when Bond, between injuries and illnesses, suddenly found herself needing a fifth player.

Pedrique’s prep resume featured mostly in-state success, including a handful of wins on the Florida Junior Tour, with some USGA starts sprinkled in. Her career highlight to date is nearly making match play at the 2022 U.S. Girls’ Junior with sister Marley on the bag; then last summer, Layla looped for Marley in her USGA debut. In her first qualifying round last month at Seminole Legacy Club, Pedrique shot 81. But she rallied, and Bond admits that if she’d thought about it, Pedrique probably earned a starting nod for their spring opener in Mexico.

So, with the obvious replacement in Pedrique staring her in the face, Bond huddled her assistants, Pedrique and Pedrique’s parents and presented the option of ending Pedrique’s redshirt.

Sitting in Bond’s office four days ago, Pedrique couldn’t say yes fast enough. Her goal, she says now, had been to qualify for tournaments all along.

“I don’t like to burn a kid, but everyone was so excited about it, so that’s what we did,” Bond said. “And to her credit, this kid took full advantage of her opportunity today.”

With assistant Matt Whall walking all 18 holes with the rookie, Pedrique shook off a bogey on the par-5 second, which was playing directly into a consistent 20 mph wind. Gusts easily exceeded 30 mph at times, though Pedrique settled in to birdie back-to-back holes, Nos. 6 and 7.

“I always like to think I come back most of the time,” Pedrique said. “I can start off shaky but I’m still able to manage myself well. … And I had coach Matt with me all day, and he gave me a lot of confidence and kept me in it the whole day. I was actually more excited than I was nervous.”

She’d add a birdie at the par-4 17th as part of an even-par closing nine, and as she went over her scorecard, she noticed live scoring had her a shot worse – a veteran move by the aspiring finance major to ensure her score, an opening 71 to qual Woad, was properly documented. Of course, that’s not the only example of Pedrique’s maturity; back at school, she’s already mimicking Woad, known as one of the hardest workers in the game, so much so that she attends few football games, and when she does, she always leaves early to head to the golf course.

“I literally copy her schedule, hour by hour,” Pedrique said.

Added Bond: “She’s definitely in Lottie’s shadow taking it all in.”

When every Seminole had finished their round, Bond called Pedrique over to her and gave her a big hug.

Pedrique is part of of a logjam at T-3, a shot back of Ole Miss teammates Nicole Gal and Caitlyn Macnab. UCF, at 3 over, is second and five back of Florida State on the team leaderboard, while Ole Miss and Texas A&M are knotted up at 4 over.

“For her to handle this golf course, the nerves, the field, the wind…,” Bond said. “Today was an 8.5 out of 10 [in terms of difficulty], and she did a great job.”