As young Lottie Woad makes her pro debut at this week’s ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open, veteran Lauren Coughlin experiences a first of her own. Coughlin, 32, will defend an LPGA title for the first time this week at Dundonald Links.
Needless to say, Coughlin’s route to the LPGA was a bit bumpier than Woad’s. A walk-on at Virginia who played in regional events growing up, Coughlin dropped down to the Epson Tour after losing her LPGA card early on and took the long route to the winner’s circle – finally hoisting a trophy after 103 LPGA starts.
“I think it’s just a little bit different,” said Coughlin the late-bloomer of her road to success on the LPGA. “Like I’ve had to kind of fight and claw to get here. And so not to say that Lottie has not had to fight and claw but in just kind of a little bit different kind of – she’s fighting and clawing to win, whereas I was fighting and clawing to get status and keep status and things like that.”
Coughlin’s win last year at Dundonald Links was her second in three starts, and she went into her first Solheim Cup as one of America’s top players.
She has cooled a bit since then, however, missing four cuts in her last five starts, including the recent Amundi Evian Championship. In April, she had two top-3 finishes.
When asked what’s changed, Coughlin said she was having more fun last year.
“I feel like Evian, I was playing a lot better starting at Evian,” said Coughlin, “and I just couldn’t get the ball to go in the hole. But other than that, yeah, I feel like I’m just trying to get back to that, being a lot more relaxed and not trying so hard and want to do so well that sometimes you can tighten up.”
The LPGA was off last week while the men’s British Open took place at Royal Portrush. Coughlin spent the week with friend Maja Stark in her small Swedish village, but managed to catch some of what Scheffler was doing and saying in Northern Ireland.
“I think his perspective is very unique,” said Coughlin, “and I feel like something that we should aspire to. You know, just the whole gratitude and his worth isn’t defined by him as a golfer. It’s defined by him as a husband and a father, and it’s definitely, like, very aspirational to be like, yeah, I want to be a good wife and hopefully a good friend and hopefully a good mom some day, and to not be so into, like, your identity as a golfer. That’s really hard, and it’s definitely something I struggle with at times.
“It’s something that we care so much about and we want to do so well. But hearing him say some of those things, you can kind of learn some things from him.”
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