Sometimes dreams come true. And then, well, they come true again.
And then, if you’re Lauren Coughlin in 2024, you’ve got to re-focus your goals, objectives and dreams because things keep going your way.
Coughlin, who finally broke through for her first LPGA Tour victory in her 103rd start at last month’s CPKC Women’s Open, won again on Sunday at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open.
She topped last week’s silver medalist at Le Golf National, Esther Henseleit, by an impressive four shots.
This season has been a tremendous turnaround for Coughlin who has just kept chipping away at this difficult game over the last half decade since turning professional in 2018.
“If you would have told me, let alone beginning of this year, but beginning of last year, I wouldn't believe this is what I've done and it's incredible,” Coughlin said. “It’s just how hard I've worked to get here, and it's amazing.”
Coughlin had a tough start to her Sunday finale at Dundonald Links, bogeying two of her first four holes after unfortunately finding a bunker on No. 2 and a three-putt on No. 4. But she added two circles to her scorecard in quick succession on Nos. 5 and 7 to make the turn at even par.
The 31-year-old admitted she started her day trying to do what she didn’t want to be doing all week, which was fight the wind, versus just riding the wind with her shots.
“I was able to hang in there and birdie 5 and then birdie 7, and I was able to settle in nicely,” Coughlin said.
After making the turn, Coughlin added birdies on three of her final five holes, including a sneaky one on the par-5 18th to top the field by four. It was a tight race around the midpoint of the day, but Coughlin’s steady play kept her out front, and the chasing pack ultimately ran out of holes.
Ayaka Furue’s 4-under 68 was tied for the low round of the day and she finished tied for third alongside Megan Khang at 9-under, while Charley Hull rounded out the top five at 8-under for the week.
Despite the windy and rainy week at Dundonald Links, Coughlin put together as impressive a tee-to-green effort as anyone. She was tied for fifth in fairways hit, tied for seventh in greens in regulation and no one hit fewer putts on the week than Coughlin.
That has seemed to be the difference for her throughout this season, as last year – according to KPMG Performance Insights – she was 123rd in strokes gained putting, and this year she has zipped all the way up to 16th in the same statistic.
One thing that cannot be measured, however, is Coughlin’s grit and heart. She tried not to think about hosting another LPGA Tour trophy on Saturday night, and she came out with a solid gameplan in the final round.
By the time Sunday night rolled around, she had joined Nelly Korda and Hannah Green as the only multiple winners on the LPGA Tour this season.
“Last night, I was definitely thinking about it, but this morning I was pretty calm about it. Just trying to stay super present and not think about winning,” Coughlin said. “It's really cliché, one shot at a time, but that's really what I was trying to do.”
This week marked Coughlin’s fourth straight top-10 finish on the LPGA Tour dating back to The Amundi Evian Championship, where she finished solo fourth. She headed to Canada after that and topped the field, before returning to action at the Portland Classic and finishing in a tie for ninth. Coughlin has three other top 10s on her 2024 resume and has, essentially, locked up a spot on the U.S. squad for the Solheim Cup in September.
Considering the event is happening about 75 minutes from where she grew up, that was a big-time objective for Coughlin in 2024.
“I've had big goals for this year with Solheim and all that, and so that's what had been on my mind and preparing for and trying to get ready for. I knew I needed to improve and that's what I've been trying to do all along,” Coughlin said. “The goal is just going to be kind of trying to keep rolling into Solheim. It's still probably (four) weeks away so trying to keep my game as sharp as I possibly can going into that and especially next week too, with the (AIG Women’s Open).
“I think that's what I've been thinking – just trying to keep what's working working and fine-tune things here or there. But just keep doing the same things that I've been doing.”
And for Coughlin, the other “same things” that she’s been doing of late on the LPGA Tour is watching her dreams come true.
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