LAUREN THE CONQUEROR OF THE LINKS
August 18, 2024
Lauren Coughlin won her second LPGA tournament within the month, finishing four shots clear of the field. A stunning back nine that included three birdies, saw her single putt her last seven greens and sail to victory on a blustery day at the beautiful Dundonald Links.
Having won her first LPGA tournament in Canada on her 103rd attempt in July, she had to wait until only her second tournament back to double her win tally and with this win she secures her place in the 2024 US Solheim Cup.
Coughlin was the only player in the field – that included five of the world’s top 10 – to shoot all four rounds in the 60’s:
On how having already sealed her first win helped her…
“Yeah, definitely. I think I wasn’t quite as thinking about it too much. I mean, last night I was definitely thinking about it, but this morning I was pretty calm about it. Just, again, just trying to stay super present and not think about winning. It’s really cliché, but one shot at a time but that’s really what I was trying to do.”
On how she reflects on her victory…
“It’s kind of unbelievable. Two in three weeks is pretty crazy, or three events. But I just kind of stuck in there, tried to stay as present as I could, and got some putts to drop at the end.”
On how she is living the dream…
“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. It just how hard I’ve worked to get here, and it’s amazing.”
Esther Henseleit, silver medallist at the Olympics last week finished in runner up position again after a solid 70.
“Yeah, it was fun today. I playing really solid. Had a little go on the back nine, but Lauren played amazing. Even when she was in trouble, she got out of it really quick. She played well this afternoon today. This week and last week are giving me a lot of confidence. I’m definitely enjoying my time on the golf course at the moment. I feel like the putter got a little bit hot at least this week and I holed some good putts, which is nice to see, and I’m looking forward to next week.”
Ayaka Furue and Megan Khang finished tied 3rd with Furue shooting an impressive 68 while Khang’s round didn’t really ignite in the way anticipated, finishing with a 74.
Furue was feeling very positive as she heads to the AIG Women’s Open for the final major of the year…
“I feel very proud that I could do like four rounds, full rounds this week on the links course. It was really helpful for me to do next week, as well. So that was really good for me.
I feel I’m pretty good at wind. So yeah, I feel that’s one of my points that I can be confident in a links course.”
Khang too was leaving Dundonald taking many positives from her week…
“I am just happy with how I’m hitting it. Today the putts just didn’t drop but it was fun watching Lauren and Esther make some putts that I wish I was making myself. Overall, taking the positives and knowing that I can trust the wind to do what it’s meant to be doing, and just to be able to kind of play some good golf over here on the links, it’s a nice confidence boost.”
Charley Hull finished in solo fifth and was the highest placed Brit. Reflecting on her week she commented…
“It’s meant to be quite windy next week at the British Open. So I think the wind is definitely a good practise this week.
So it wasn’t quite as windy. But I said to my caddie, I said there’s a hole today where I had to hit a normal shot, and I almost forgot how to hit a normal shot because I’ve been used to hitting punch shots all week.
I’m happy and looking forward to going into next week.”
The three players who secured their place in next week’s AIG Women’s Open are
- Caroline Inglis
- Lily May Humphreys
- Haeji Kang
About the new title partner ISPS HANDA
ISPS Handa’s vision is to use sport as a platform to make the world a better place, by using the power of sport to unite communities and by giving people a chance to live better lives through sport.
ISPS Handa is a Japanese-based philanthropic organisation that combines donations from individuals and companies to invest into a broad platform of events, programs and people with the aim of using the power of sport to achieve positive things in the world.
ISPS Handa started as a vehicle to help blind people and people with other disabilities to live more fulfilled lives, and while the scope of the organisation has broadened significantly, helping people with disabilities remains a major priority for the organisation.
ISPS Handa sponsors a range of events globally including a number that cater to people with disabilities. We currently or recently have supported events in Australia, Japan, USA, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, England, Spain, Wales and Singapore most of which include a disability focus
ISPS Handa sponsors a number of sports and organisations and golf has always been an important sport due to its ability to offer opportunities for people with disabilities and its global nature.
Since its creation, ISPS Handa has partnered with many of the world’s most prominent sporting bodies including, LPGA, LET, R&A, PGA Tour, DPWT, PGA Tour of Australasia, Golf Australia, Rugby Australia, Wheelchair Rugby Australia, Invictus, Sentebale, Halberg and NZ Football Federation to name a few.