Tag: prize money payouts

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.

It took Lauren Coughlin 101 starts to earn her first win. Just three weeks later, she’s a winner again.

Coughlin closed with a 3-under 69 on Sunday at Dundonald Links in Ayrshire, Scotland, to win the 2024 ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open by a comfortable four shots.

Olympic silver medalist Ester Henseleit of Germany was a runner-up again while Japan’s Ayaka Furue tied for third with Megan Khang of the U.S.

Coughlin earned $300,000 in Scotland after banking $350,000 for her earlier win in Canada.

Here’s the full purse breakdown for the purse at the 2024 ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open.

Pos.	Player	Score	Earnings
1	Lauren Coughlin	-15	$300,000
2	Esther Henseleit	-11	$167,294
T3	Ayaka Furue	-9	$97,588
T3	Megan Khang	-9	$97,588
5	Charley Hull	-8	$66,918
T6	Gabriela Ruffels	-7	$54,835
T6	Jin Young Ko	-7	$54,835
8	Sarah Schmelzel	-6	$46,471
9	Lydia Ko	-5	$44,612
T10	Nuria Iturrioz	-3	$41,824
T10	Lisa Pettersson	-3	$41,824
T12	Lucy Li	-2	$37,176
T12	Georgia Hall	-2	$37,176
T12	Minjee Lee	-2	$37,176
T15	Nasa Hataoka	-1	$32,529
T15	Allisen Corpuz	-1	$32,529
T15	Grace Kim	-1	$32,529
T18	Jin Hee Im	E	$30,206
T18	A Lim Kim	E	$30,206
T20	Savannah Grewal	1	$26,581
T20	Haeji Kang	1	$26,581
T20	Lily May Humphreys	1	$26,581
T20	Caroline Inglis	1	$26,581
T20	Albane Valenzuela	1	$26,581
T25	Lilia Vu	2	$21,005
T25	Celine Boutier	2	$21,005
T25	Rose Zhang	2	$21,005
T25	Cheyenne Knight	2	$21,005
T25	Mary Liu	2	$21,005
T30	Ashleigh Buhai	3	$16,667
T30	Peiyun Chien	3	$16,667
T30	Madelene Sagstrom	3	$16,667
T33	Stephanie Kyriacou	4	$12,361
T33	Hyo Joo Kim	4	$12,361
T33	Nicole Broch Estrup	4	$12,361
T33	Marta Martin	4	$12,361
T33	Ssu-Chia Cheng	4	$12,361
T33	Alexandra Forsterling	4	$12,361
T33	Wei-Ling Hsu	4	$12,361
T33	Cara Gainer	4	$12,361
T41	Marina Alex	5	$9,666
T41	Celine Herbin	5	$9,666
T41	Sei Young Kim	5	$9,666
T41	Ryann O’Toole	5	$9,666
T41	Kirsten Rudgeley	5	$9,666
T46	So Mi Lee	6	$8,829
T46	Johanna Gustavsson	6	$8,829
T48	Morgane Metraux	7	$7,807
T48	Anne-Charlotte Mora	7	$7,807
T48	Jenny Shin	7	$7,807
T48	Ana Pelaez Trivino	7	$7,807
T48	Virginia Elena Carta	7	$7,807
T48	Liz Young	7	$7,807
T48	Minami Katsu	7	$7,807
T48	Anna Nordqvist	7	$7,807
T48	Pauline Roussin-Bouchard	7	$7,807
T57	Linnea Strom	8	$6,599
T57	Laura Fuenfstueck	8	$6,599
T57	Mao Saigo	8	$6,599
T57	Nicole Garcia	8	$6,599
T61	Leona Maguire	9	$5,948
T61	Brooke M. Henderson	9	$5,948
T61	Yealimi Noh	9	$5,948
64	Ariya Jutanugarn	10	$5,576
T65	Hye-Jin Choi	12	$5,112
T65	Olivia Cowan	12	$5,112
67	Shannon Tan	14	$4,833
68	Nastasia Nadaud	15	$4,461
69	Lee-Anne Pace	18	$4,275