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.
Lauren Coughlin poses with the trophy after winning the 2024 ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links Golf Course in Troon, Scotland. (Paul Devlin/Getty Images)
“I started out a little slow,” said Coughlin of that initial splutter. “But I managed to hang in there and was able to settle…
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