BRADENTON, Fla. — Lauren Coughlin was one of the best stories to come out of the 2024 LPGA Tour season.

She caught fire around the same time that Nelly Korda’s winning streak wrapped up but did so a few weeks before Lydia Ko entered the LPGA Hall of Fame after winning gold at the Paris Olympics and then backed that up with a victory at the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews. That left Coughlin with her own window of time to make an impact, and boy, did she do just that last year.

Coughlin carded a T3 finish at The Chevron Championship in April but had a bit of an up-and-down time through May and June. She then came solo fourth at The Amundi Evian Championship in July, a ship-righting performance that settled her nerves before the Tour returned to North America after the European swing.

It also gave Coughlin some confidence as she headed to her next tournament at the CPKC Women’s Open, self-belief that turned out to be a gamechanger for the LPGA Tour veteran that week at Earl Grey Golf Club as she posted a 72-hole total of 13-under to win by two shots and become a Rolex First-Time Winner.

“It's incredible. The adrenaline and everything that I felt today, and the emotions and everything, it was awesome,” Coughlin said at the CPKC Women’s Open. “As the year progressed, I think I started seeing myself get there. Chevron was a huge turning point, and even Evian two weeks ago was a huge learning opportunity and something that I hadn't really been in. I think I learned a ton from that, and I think that's a big reason why I ended up getting the win today.”

At that point, one victory was more than enough for Coughlin to have changed her life and made a statement to both her fellow competitors and the golf world at large. But the Virginia native doubled down just 21 days later and picked up her second Tour title at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open, a win that served as her breakout moment and vaulted her star to new heights.

“Pretty surreal, but also awesome,” Coughlin said in Scotland after her second victory. “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.”

That second 2024 title cemented Coughlin’s spot on the U.S. Solheim Cup Team, a squad that competed last year at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va., not far from her hometown. The Americans claimed their first Cup since 2017 that week, and Coughlin was a key component of the team’s success, going 3-0-1 in her debut in the biennial team competition and claiming 3.5 critical points for the Red, White and Blue.

Couple her 2024 success with her likable, down-to-earth personality and Coughlin was an athlete whose story many connected with last season, something that brought with it plenty of outside noise and off-the-course media opportunities that she’s had to learn how to deal with over the last several months. It can be challenging not to linger upon past triumphs, particularly if it’s all anyone talks about, so Coughlin has tried to fully turn the page to the 2025 season, even if there are still hangers-on who want to continue reliving her epic performances of last summer.

“I think I've done a good job of reflecting on it in my own time, trying to reflect and still think back and take a lot of positives on what I did, but also kind of move on in a sense and not get stuck in the past, even though it's all everybody talks to me about,” Coughlin said with a smile on Thursday afternoon at Bradenton Country Club. “But I think I'm just trying to have fun, as much fun as I can out there, and it's very cliche, but doing all the things that I do well, that I learned to do really well, which was being in my process, staying in my bubble, doing a lot of that little stuff.”

Coughlin kicked off the new year last week at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, making her first career start in the year’s first event and finishing solo seventh, a strong way to begin to follow up her solid 2024 season.

She then came to this week’s Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands and fired a near-perfect 5-under 66 on Thursday at Bradenton Country Club, making one bogey and six birdies to sit in a three-way tie for third early, one stroke behind 18-hole co-leaders Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Jennifer Kupcho.

“It was the first week with the new caddie, so was just trying to get in a really good rhythm,” said Coughlin about her new partnership with Kurt Moskaly. “We got in a very good rhythm out there today, so that was kind of fun. Had a good time. I'm friends with Linnea (Strom) and Nasa (Hataoka) and Greg (Johnston), Nasa's caddie, so it was just a really nice, fun round.”

It's a day one performance that Coughlin will be working to build upon over the next three days in Bradenton, Fla., as she works to pick up a third career LPGA Tour victory early at the Founders Cup and maybe write a new chapter in her personal history books. And even though the past is very much in the past for the two-time LPGA Tour winner, Coughlin is still drawing upon the confidence she built in 2024 as she competes this year on the LPGA Tour, a faith in herself that’s been critical as she has progressed as a professional golfer.

“I think a lot of it is what I'm doing is working in a certain sense. There are definitely still things I need to work on and get better, but a lot of what I do in my full swing, I've been able to keep it strong for a really long time,” Coughlin said. “I didn't have much of an offseason, so I don't think I had too much rust, to be honest. My husband and I bought a townhouse in Jupiter, so I spent the last three weeks down there. Played a lot of golf. We're good friends with Olly Brett and Emily Pedersen, so I played a bunch of golf. Just was able to keep a lot of things going.”

Lauren Coughlin Close to Top of the Leaderboard After One Round at Founders Cup

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