On Thursday, Lauren Coughlin walked off the Lower Course at Baltsurol Golf Club after recording a 4-over 75 with a double bogey on her card. Not quite the way you want to start a major tournament.

But the early mistakes didn’t faze Coughlin. She shot a bogey-free, 4-under 67 on Friday to clean the slate and pull even with the competition. She followed it up with a 68 on Saturday, and now, Coughlin is in contention at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, sitting in a tie for sixth at 3-under.

“I think the most important thing was taking my medicine,” Coughlin said of her turnaround. “If I did miss it off the tee, taking my medicine and making sure I got it into a spot that I could get up and down or hopefully give myself at least a 5-, 6-footer for par. I made all of those yesterday, I missed one today. That was the big thing: I just made those 5-, 6-footers that you have to make to keep the round going. That was probably the big difference.”

Beyond the game, the key for Coughlin was controlling her nerves. Before Friday’s round she wrote three things in her yardage book, “be you, breathe and slow is fast.” She let those three mantras guide her strategy and whenever she felt her nerves starting to go haywire, she reminded herself of one more thing: Lauren Coughlin is good at golf.

“I just kept telling myself you’re really good at golf,” Coughlin told the media on Saturday. “I think I forget that sometimes. That was something I just kept telling myself all day yesterday and again today if any nerves or anything came up.”

Coughlin is also no stranger to battling back from the brink, having endangered her LPGA Tour status more than a few times in past seasons. The 30-year-old first joined the LPGA Tour in 2018 after finishing T7 at 2017 LPGA Q-Series but was forced to return to the grueling qualifying tournament in 2018 and 2019, where she barely managed to maintain her Tour status.

A mediocre performance in 2021 put Coughlin back on the edge, just a hair’s breadth away from losing her card and returning to her fourth straight Q-Series (the tournament was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Luckily, the American turned everything around at the last second. After Monday-qualifying for the ANNIKA Driven by Gainbridge at Pelican, she finished T16 at the event and clawed her way back to 97th in the Race to CME Globe standings, saving her from another trip to Q-Series.

Since then, Coughlin has been steadily climbing up the CME rankings. She finished 78th last year, buoyed by a career best T8 at the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship. With three top-25 results in 2023, Coughlin is currently 69th in the Race for the CME Globe. Just four shots back of the lead going into the final round, Coughlin’s hopes her performance this week will lead to both her best career finish on the LPGA Tour as well as her best finish in a major championship.

“It’s really exciting,” said the Epson Tour winner. “It’s crazy when you think about it. Even where I am at this point this year compared to last year, just how much I’ve improved is kind of crazy. I’m just excited. I’ve worked really hard. Sometimes it doesn’t show, but it’s nice that it’s showing this week.”

But what Coughlin really wants is that first win on the LPGA Tour. Though she’s excited by what the final 18 holes will bring – and it shows in her contagious smile – she said the most important thing on such a tough golf course is to slow down.

“A win regardless would be awesome, but if I could do it in a major, it means that much more,” Coughlin said. “I’m just going to be trying to stay super patient and try not to get too excited and too jacked up for the round tomorrow. It’s really exciting to be in the position that I am in, so trying not to get too overly excited is going to be my big thing.”

Wherever she lands on the leaderboard Sunday, it will be a big achievement for Coughlin and huge momentum heading into the second half of the season. More importantly, it will be a reminder to herself and everyone watching that Lauren Coughlin is really good at golf.

Lauren Coughlin Claws Back Into Contention, Ready to Attack Sunday

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