Two wins in three weeks has this LPGA pro on a career-altering run

Lauren Coughlin is getting good at this. Just under three years on from regaining full exempt status on the LPGA Tour and less than a month since she eliminated the tag “winless” from her career resume, the 31-year-old has multiple victories—both national Open titles—to her name.

A U.S. Solheim Cup debut is also in Coughlin’s near-future, recognition and reward for a run of form Korda-like in its excellence. The Virginian will arrive at this week’s AIG Women’s Open in St. Andrews as the Canadian Women’s Open champion and now the ISPS Handa Scottish Women’s Open champion, having extended her run of sub-par rounds to 18.

The latest additions to that lengthy inventory of red figures came at a relentlessly breezy Dundonald Links in Ayrshire, where Coughlin’s 15-under 273, was at least six shots better than anyone else in the field other than runner-up, Esther Henseleit. The German, silver medalist at the Olympics in Paris and a former winner of the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit, finished four-strokes shy of the new champion, but with the consolation of having gone a long way toward sealing her own European Solheim Cup debut next month.

It was Coughlin’s week though, her latest win, one worth $300,000, ultimately clinched by a sparkling display of short-game expertise over the closing nine-holes. Seven times in succession on holes 12 through 18 the Charlottesville resident (she lives only 70 minutes from Solheim Cup venue, the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club) turned a potential three shots into two by one-putting the often-undulating putting surfaces. The last one, soon enough accompanied by a broad smile, was a left-to-right breaker from more than 20 feet for one last birdie on the par-5 18th. It was a fitting conclusion to a brilliant overall performance.

“Two victories in three events is pretty crazy,” said Coughlin who is now, after Nelly Korda and Hannah Green, only the third player to win more than once this year on the LPGA. “I just stuck in there and tried to stay as present as I could. And I got some putts to drop there at the end. I played super-solid all four days and tried to let the wind do what it did and not fight it too much. I hit the ball where I was trying to most of the time. I had good distance and again, made some putts.”

As ever though it was the par-saving putts more than those holed for birdie that brought Coughlin most satisfaction, that and her still relatively new-found ability to handle strong wind.

“The one on 15 was huge,” Coughlin said. “I was bit unlucky with where my drive ended up on 16 [on the edge of a bunker]. But I hit a great pitch shot and was able to keep things going. I really struggled in the wind, until last year when I came to this event. But I’m figuring it out. A lot of it is not trying to fight it too much and letting it do what it needs to do. I trust it as much as I can.”

Inevitably, too, there was a modicum of incredulity at what she is currently achieving—and may go on to achieve. Outside the top 100 on the Rolex Women’s Rankings in March, she is now inside the top 20.

“If someone had told me at the beginning of last year that I would do what I’ve just done, I probably wouldn’t believe them,” Coughlin continued. “It’s incredible and shows how hard I’ve worked to get here. It’s amazing. I’ve kept believing my whole career, not just professionally but in college and junior golf too. I walked on at the University of Virginia and just tried to get better every year. And that’s what I’ve tried to keep doing.”

At least in terms of her sub-par streak, that aim may just prove difficult to sustain. The weather forecast for St. Andrews in the coming days calls for squally showers and winds blowing as much as 40 miles per hour. Then again, the way Lauren Coughlin is playing right now, just about anything is possible.