AYRSHIRE, Scotland — We may as well pinch a lyric from an old Meatloaf song to describe Lauren Coughlin’s fine victory in the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links: Two out of three ain’t bad. Let’s hope we don’t have to pay any royalties.
Coughlin joined the LPGA back in 2018 and finally made her breakthrough on the circuit in last month’s Canadian Open. Her silver lining in Scotland means the American has now won twice in her last three starts. Not bad at all, eh?
With a terrific display of poise and polish in the testing Ayrshire conditions, Coughlin recovered from a shoogly start and closed with a 3-under 69 for a 15-under aggregate and eased to a four-shot triumph over Germany’s Ester Henseleit.
“It’s unbelievable,” beamed Coughlin after picking up the first prize of $300,000.
“Two wins in three events is pretty crazy. If you would have told me (she’d have two wins) at the beginning of last year, I wouldn’t believe it. It’s incredible. It just shows how hard I’ve worked to get here.
“I was definitely thinking about (winning) the night before, but in the morning, I was pretty calm about it. I was just trying to stay in the present and tried not to think about winning. It’s really a cliché, but it was one shot at a time. That’s what I was trying to do. It’s amazing.”
With her second win of the season in the bag, Coughlin has done enough to secure her place on the U.S. Solheim Cup team for next month’s transatlantic tussle with Europe in the state of Virginia where she grew up.
“I’ve had big goals for this year with the Solheim Cup and all that,” added Coughlin. “So that’s been on my mind. I knew I needed to improve and that’s what I’ve been trying to do all along.”
On another tough day at Dundonald, Coughlin, who held a slender one-shot lead over Megan Khang after 54 holes, stumbled out of the blocks with two bogeys on her first four holes.
It certainly wasn’t the start she was looking for, but Coughlin is made of stern stuff. A brace of birdies at the fifth and seventh helped to steady the ship and got her ahead of Khang again after her compatriot had nipped in front.
“I started out a little slow,” said Coughlin of that initial splutter. “But I managed to hang in there and was able to settle nicely.”
Khang’s challenge faded as she failed to make another birdie after the fifth while Japan’s Ayaka Furue, the Women’s Scottish Open champion in 2022, made a gallant push with a 68, which was a noble effort in the wind.
Henseleit, who took the silver medal in the Olympic golf event in Paris the previous weekend, became Coughlin’s biggest threat on the back nine but the American staved off her advances.
With a calm, composed performance, Coughlin picked up three birdies coming home and single-putted her final seven holes. A crucial up-and-down on the 12th underlined the quality of her scrambling when things were tight at the top. The way she preserved her position of authority was mightily impressive.
Coughlin trundled in a putt of 20-feet for a great par at the 16th, mounted another good salvage operation from just off the green at the 17th and holed a 25-footer for birdie at the last to finish with a flourish.
Coughlin now heads to St. Andrews for this week’s AIG Women’s Open with a spring in her step. She could probably float over to the east coast on an updraft of her own confidence. The Dundonald tune-up will stand her in good stead for the ultimate links test in the Auld Grey Toun.
“Obviously, you come over here to get some reps on links and in the wind (ahead of The Open),” she said. “It’s so different to being back in the States. The win is just the cherry on the top.”
Coughlin certainly enjoyed her time in Ayrshire. “Troon is a fun place,” she added of her home for the week. “I was staying in an Airbnb there. It’s awesome.” She’ll be getting the freedom of the town at this rate.
Henseleit, a two-time winner on the Ladies European Tour, signed off with a 70 for 11 under to finish runner-up again after her Olympic silver.
“I had a little go on the back nine, but Lauren played amazing golf,” said Henseleit, who picked up a trio of birdies on her inward half. “Even when she was in trouble, she got out of it really quickly. Her up-and-down on the 16th was pretty special.”
Khang, who closed with a 74, shared third with Furue on 9 under while Charley Hull fell away with a 73 and was fifth on 8 under.