Lauren Coughlin rolled in a crooked, 20-foot putt as part of three birdies on Saturday to shoot a 6-under 66 at the Women’s Scottish Open and give her one shot over Megan Khang at Dundonald Links.
Coughlin captured his first LPGA Tour title three weeks ago in Canada and set himself up for a bye to the US Solheim Cup team.
“I’m starting to hit the ball really well, and I’m starting to feel good about my game and myself and I’m trying to keep going,” Coughlin said.
Khang opened with 11 straight pars, but three birdies late in his round gave him a 69 and allowed the American to close the gap to one shot.
Coughlin was 12-under 204.
England’s Charley Hull narrowly missed an eagle putt on the par-5 18th. Her birdie putt gave her a 69 to leave her three out, along with Germany’s Esther Henseleit, who had a 66.
Henseleit has two victories on the Ladies European Tour and is building on her silver medal at the Paris Olympics. She was paired Saturday with gold medalist Lydia Ko, who was 71 and five shots behind.
“I played really well,” said Henseleit. “We had a good front nine and then we kept it going on the back nine, and yeah, a really solid day. You didn’t make a lot of mistakes. It ended up being easy and simple and rolled with a couple of putts.”
Henseleit pulled into a share of the lead with an eagle on the par-5 14th hole. Coughlin made his 20-foot birdie putt on the 15th, while the German missed his birdie try from 10 feet. On the 4th 16th, Henseleit missed a 3-foot par putt to fall behind.
Hull opened with an 81 at the Olympics, his first time back from a shoulder injury, and played 8 under a week later at Le Golf National. It was too late for him to get on the podium, but he thought he would find form for two weeks in Scotland.
The Women’s British Open, the final medal of the year, will be held next week in St. Andrews.
“Get out there, laugh and make birdies. And if I don’t make birdies, it’s not the end of the world,” Hull said.
The wind dropped a bit, although temperatures were cold enough for some players to wear mittens between shots.
Australia’s Minjee Lee was challenging for the lead until she had a soft bogey on the par-3 15th hole. He responded with a birdie on the 16th to take a two shot lead. But on the closing hole, where Coughlin made a birdie to reach 12 under, Lee claimed the green twice and chipped into a narrow green. He made a bogey of 72 and fell behind.
Coughlin had a successful season, not only with her victories but moving up to No. 26 in the women’s world rankings after starting the season outside the top 100. His attention was on the Solheim Cup. He is currently number 4 in the table, but a Sunday win in Scotland should clinch one of the automatic places.
Coughlin was an All-American at Virginia. The tournament was held September 13-15 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club near Manassas, Virginia. This will be his first Solheim Cup team.
“I live an hour and 10 minutes away from it. It’s my country, so I couldn’t be happier,” Coughlin said.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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