Lauren Coughlin began her opening round on the 11th hole Thursday, as is the case at the Earl Grey Golf Club in Calgary, where the 10th hole is a trek from the clubhouse. A string of pars – eight in all – tested Coughlin’s patience but veteran caddie Terry McNamara reminded her that in the wind and cooler temps, the CPKC Women’s Open was playing tough.
“They’ll come,” he told her.
And they did, five birdies on the front nine gave her an opening 4-under 68 and the clubhouse lead in her first start since she contended at the Amundi Evian Championship. Coughlin, who looks like a lock for this year’s Solheim Cup, is in her search of her maiden victory on the LPGA. The 31-year-old finished fourth in France and took a share of third earlier this season at the Chevron Championship.
“I’ve been hitting the ball – pretty much ever since Evian, I’ve been hitting the ball extremely well,” said Coughlin. “To keep it going even after an off week felt really good.”
Coughlin currently ranks sixth on the Solheim points list. The top seven automatically qualify. She lives only an hour from this year’s Solheim Cup venue at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia.
Australia’s Minjee Lee opened with a 69 and Canada’s own superstar, Brooke Henderson, shot 72.
“It was interesting,” said Henderson. “Not really the hot start that I wanted to get off to, but felt like we fought pretty hard. We were in some tough spots on some holes so it was nice to battle it out, get even par. Be nice to get a couple birdies early tomorrow and really climb up.”
In 10 starts in her national open, Henderson boasts six top-25 finishes, including a victory at the 2018 edition, when she became only the second Canadian to win the event. Her scoring average at the CPKC coming into this week was 70.06.
This marks the first time the Canadian Women’s Open has come to Earl Grey Golf Club in Alberta, the 30th different venue for this championship. This week’s CPKC is the first professional event this historic club has ever hosted.
With the Olympic Games around the corner, only three of the top 10 players in the world are in the field of 156, headlined by No. 2 Lilia Vu, Hannah Green (No. 6) and Rose Zhang (No. 9). There are 17 Canadians in the field.
Wildfire smoke caused the Air Quality Index (AQI) to soar in Calgary, though not high enough to halt play on Thursday.
“I played in Portland a few years ago when it was like we couldn’t even go outside for like three days,” said Coughlin, referring to the 2020 edition of the Portland Classic, “so this wasn’t too bad.”