LPGA players revealed their favorite swings on tour — and one name kept coming up

It’s tough to beat Nelly’s.

At the LPGA Drive On Championship last week, the first full-field event of the season on tour, Golfweek asked several players to name their favorite swing on tour (outside of their own). Not surprisingly, one name kept popping up – Nelly Korda.

The hometown favorite would go on to win her ninth LPGA career title in a playoff against Lydia Ko in Bradenton, Florida. Danish player Nanna Koerstz Madsen even noted that she has used videos of Korda’s swing in the past to help her get into certain positions.

The No. 2 player in the world wasn’t the only name mentioned, of course. Here are the favorites:

After a month off, Ryann O’Toole contending again, this time at Walmart NW Arkansas Championship

After opening with a 7-under 64, Ryann O’Toole sits tied atop a crowded leaderboard.

Ryann O’Toole had a solo ninth-place finish in Portland a week ago. It was just her third top 10 this LPGA season. It was also the first tournament she played in a month.

A week later, after opening with a 7-under 64, O’Toole sits tied atop a crowded leaderboard at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

It sounds like the four weeks away from competition made for a nice reset.

“It just depends on where you are in life. Sometimes you’re just at a point where, ‘Hey, I got some personal stuff going on. I need to take some me time. Need to sort the brain out,'” she said.

“It’s hard to come out here and perform, especially if your mind is elsewhere. I was curious how that was going to be. I don’t like to usually take that many tournaments off, but sometimes it’s good. I guess it is showing itself now that it’s important.”

O’Toole is among six golfers tied for the lead after shooting 7-under rounds of 64, including Megan Khang, Yuka Saso, Lauren Coughlin from the early wave and later, Jeongeun Lee5 and Sei Young Kim, at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Arkansas. O’Toole was the only one of the six to par the par-5 18th hole; Coughlin was the only one to eagle it. The others all birdied it.

O’Toole did have six straight birdies on her front nine starting at No. 2 and had eight in all with just one bogey. Yet, after he round, she talked like she could’ve had more circles on her card.

“I definitely felt like I left a lot out there still,” she said after 18 holes of a 54-hole tournament. “Eight birdies, but I still felt like there was a ton left out there, especially on the back side.”

O’Toole, who hit all 18 greens, was among those in the early wave and she had a few ideas on how to fill the time Friday afternoon.

“Just going to do a cool-down practice, couple putts, hit some balls, and probably go check out Bentonville, get a tea somewhere, walk around. There is a lot to do here. Rogers, Arkansas is pretty fun. I do like coming here,” she said.

ESPN+ streaming coverage

Friday’s first round of TV coverage was tape-delayed on Golf Channel but the network will carry the second and final rounds.

In addition, for a second straight week, ESPN+ will have a “featured groups” coverage during both the morning and afternoon waves on all three tournament days.

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How No Laying Up and a three-club challenge helped put Lauren Coughlin in position to secure her tour card at the Pelican LPGA

“Golf can be really difficult mentally more than anything,” she said, “and it can really beat you down.”

BELLEAIR, Florida – Lauren Coughlin’s husband John Pond, a former offensive lineman at Virginia and current 10 handicap, convinced her not long ago to take him on in a three-club challenge at their home course just north of Charlottesville, Virginia. Pond got to use a full set of clubs, and Coughlin chose a 7-iron, driver and 56-degree wedge for the exericse.

“I putted unbelievable,” said Coughlin, who shot 3 over using a 7-iron on the greens.

That’s especially noteworthy given that Coughlin had hit rock bottom with her putting at the KPMG Women’s PGA, where she averaged 35 putts per round. The 7-iron, coupled with advice from fellow Virginian Bob Rotella about letting the athlete within take over, freed her up on the putting surface.

Now, after Monday-qualifying to get into the penultimate event of the year on the LPGA season, Coughlin, 29, finds herself in a share of 11th through three rounds of the Pelican LPGA Championship, and in good shape to shore up her LPGA card for the 2022 season.

Coughlin entered the Pelican No. 106 on the CME Race to the Globe standings, which determine status for next season. She would need to finish inside the top 30 at the Pelican to jump into the top 100 and avoid going to Q-Series in the coming weeks.

“My husband has said it the best,” said Coughlin. “I had nothing to lose.”

Coughlin actually came into the Pelican straight off of a win at No Laying Up’s Nest Invitational Tournament, aka the NIT. The handicap and flighted field was made up of NLU members who qualified at over 40 events across the country that were organized by folks on the message boards.

When No Laying Up announced a couple years ago that they’d be sponsoring up-and-coming players as part of their new Young Hitters program, Coughlin sent a direct message to Todd “Tron Carter” Schuster and, six months later, received a green-light reply. One coffee shop meeting later, Coughlin suddenly had a nationwide network of support.

“Our diehard core fanbase is all in on Lauren,” said Phil “Big Randy” Landes.

There’s a financial component to the sponsorship, of course, but it’s the intangibles that mean the most to Coughlin. Her social media accounts have quadrupled since becoming part of the NLU program. At this week’s event near Tampa, Florida, Landes points out an NLU member, DrJ, who went to his first professional golf tournament this weekend to watch Coughlin. That happens most weeks now for Coughlin.

There’s even a thread on the message board about Coughlin setting off the alarm on the Lamborghini that’s up for grabs on the par-3 12th at Pelican.

The weather in Jacksonville for the NIT last weekend was the absolute worst possible, and Coughlin, after winning her flight, swept the tournament by going birdie-birdie-par in the ensuing three-hole shootout. Other Young Hitters in the field included Justin Huber of the Korn Ferry Tour and Andrew Alligood, who plays on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica.

Coughlin said time spent with the No Laying Up crew recharges her batteries. NLU’s D.J. Piehowski has even caddied for Coughlin on the Symetra Tour.

“Golf can be really difficult mentally more than anything,” she said, “and it can really beat you down.

“When I hang out with them, I always come back loving golf a lot more than I did.”

The feeling runs both ways, of course, and the popular podcast crew – and their followers – will surely be impatiently refreshing all Sunday afternoon. Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson might lead the field, but Coughlin is one of their own.

“It’s as close as I’ll get to knowing what parents feel like watching their kids play,” said Landes. “Obviously not to that level, but we are totally invested.”

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