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KINGSMILL CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY GEICO

May 18, 2018

Lauren Coughlin

Williamsburg, Virginia

Q. How do you feel in general about how you played?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: I feel really good. Yesterday I hit the ball about the same as I did today but just didn't really make anything.

But I'm feeling really good. Glad we got to finish without any rain or anything. Looking forward to playing the weekend.

Q. A lot of fairways and greens from what I saw on the back nine. Pretty much the same on the front?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, I mean, I hit 16 greens yesterday. Like I said, just really didn't make anything. I don't know how many, but probably pretty close to that today again.

Yeah, no, I've been hitting it really, really well. Just, like I said, didn't really make anything yesterday but they were falling today.

Q. You're going to make the cut today. Made the last two cuts. Getting things rolling in the right direction, do you think?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, so I had a talk with Bob Rotella, who is a volunteer assistant for UVA right before the San Francisco tournament. He helped me out a lot. He actually texted me today telling me, Way to go.

Yeah, no, he helped out a ton and kind of made me just relax and try to have fun out here and not put too much pressure on myself.

Q. When you go that first birdie was it a sigh of relief, especially the way yesterday went?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I made probably about a 10-footer on the first one. Yeah, no, it definitely was good to see it go to the hole real quickly.

On the next one I made like a seven-footer for par to save it. Just kind of kept the momentum going and then started hitting it a little closer and they started going in.

Q. What were you working on with your coach?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Rotella?

Q. Yeah.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, he basically just said I was taking it too seriously and I needed to have fun. That's what I'm trying to do. Kind of just say to myself how cool it is that this is my job and it kind of calms me down if I'm trying too hard.

Q. He's a pretty big name in this business obviously.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah.

Q. Do you have a different relationship with him considering the fact that you obviously have one that goes back to Charlottesville?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: I actually had never talked to him until...

Q. Is that right? You had never talked to him when you were in Charlottesville?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: No. Never talked to him. I was really struggling out here and a lot of it I knew was mental more so than like my game being good enough.

My coach at Virginia, Coach Kim, she was like, All right, I'm going to give you a phone number and let him know you're going to call. He talked to me for like 20 minutes on the phone and it was really helpful.

Q. What day did you say that was?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: The Monday before San Francisco.

Q. Okay, cool. How many people did you have following you around out there?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: I had -- today I had Dave Mascitti, who is the member of the club that I -- or he's the head pro at the course I grew up playing in Chesapeake, Greenbrier Country Club.

And then Bob, my host dad is here.

Yesterday I had my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law, and my high school golf coach came and watched me yesterday.

Hopefully there will be some more people this weekend.

Q. I talked with you a couple years ago few days after John proposed, which was awesome, obviously. That and the approach shot. I think you ranked the approach above the proposal at the time.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, at the time, it was probably one of the best 4-hybrids I had hit.

Q. Right. And so the engagement was two years. Did you just get married?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, the weekend before Bahamas we got married, so January 20th.

Q. How do you like having him out here with you?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: This is only the third tournament that he's been at with me. No, it's nice spending time together, because I'm not around all that often.

I mean, we've been married almost four months now and I think we spent not even a month probably together total.

I have the next two weeks off after this, so nice to get a little relaxing.

Q. What does he do when he's not with you?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: He works for UVA; he does fund raising for needs-based scholarships.

Q. Awesome. That's pretty cool.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, no, he loves it.

Q. What's your top goal out here?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: I mean, I don't know. It's hard because I never really thought I was going to get here, to be honest, and so thinking of a goal is really hard because I don't want to go too high but also don't want to set to too low.

Just trying to play in as many majors as I can and hopefully get in the fall Asia swing. If I'm doing that, then I am doing really good.

Q. You've got a nice group of former UVA golfers making a move here. Nice last three tournaments. Brittany was on the cut line.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, she had a great year last year.

Q. Yeah.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Elizabeth.

Q. Your old teammate Elizabeth is doing awesome on the Symetra Tour. Do you guys keep in touch at all?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah. Elizabeth was one of my bridesmaids so we're really good friends. Yeah, it's hard, because now I'm on LPGA and she's Symetra, like we don't really see each other.

But, yeah, I actually saw her on Tuesday morning. She was up in Charlottesville. Same coach. Yeah, so I saw her.

Q. Okay, cool.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, so that was nice. She probably actually will be coming to Charlottesville over the next week.

Q. I would imagine, yeah.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: She usually comes there on off weeks to work with Coach Kim. Probably be able to see her.

But, yeah, no, and Brittany is nice because she's been out here for a long time. If I have any questions or anything, she's really helpful if I need any advice.

Q. Am I missing anybody other than those three?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Well, Brianna Mau is on Symetra as well.

Q. She is? Okay. All right.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah.

Q. You struggled obviously early on. Was it just kind of getting -- I mean, this is a whole 'nother level than what you were used to. Just get used to it or...
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, I think it was definitely more just getting used to it. I mean, these are people I've watched on TV for years and years: Cristie Kerr, Brooke Henderson, all these girls, Lydia Ko. And I'm not even naming half of them really.

So to be playing against them is like a whole 'nother level. I think I was trying too hard and getting so tense when I was out in an actual tournament.

Like I said, just working on that and trying to have fun. It helps when John is on the bag.

Q. Right. Tell me about that relationship. It's obviously different when you have your husband on the bag. Does he talk with you a different way? Is it more of a kick-you-in-the-butt type motivation? Is it pat you on the back? Depends on the situation?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: I'm way more even keeled than he is. I think goes back it he's a football player. So like they want to be jacked up and stuff.

Q. Different intensity.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, so it's taken him a lot to kind of come down to my level. If he gets too jacked up it messes with me, because we're married so his emotions affect my emotions. So if he's mad because I hit a bad shot, it's going to make me like, Crap, I made him mad. So he's toned that down a lot.

And Brian Bailey, former assistant coach, he's really one of the good guys with AimPoint, so he taught him AimPoint so he can like help me read greens and stuff.

Q. I wondered how he figured some of the technical stuff out.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, so Brian was a big help in teaching him so he can help me with the green reading.

It's more just reassurance than anything.

Q. Do you have a regular caddie on the bag?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Not yet, no. I'm hoping to after -- starting in the ShopRite I'll have someone full time.

Q. You mentioned some of the big names. Are you still in awe of those people or has it become normal to you?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: I think if I -- I mean, like I said I've only made two cuts, three now, and then the last one we only played 36 holes. I haven't really played with anybody yet.

In college it really helped once I played-- I remember the first time I played with Stephanie Meadow who was like the No. 1 amateur in the world at the time. I was like, Okay, my game -- it was nice to like actually see it in person. Be like, Okay, I'm just as good as they are.

I think it'll help if I actually get to like play with one of them at some point to be like, Okay, I see where my game actually stacks up.

Q. Of all the cuts for you to make, how much did you want to make this one?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, no, it's really nice. I grew up an hour from here so it's really-- and I played junior golf tournaments at course, so it's really cool. It's really cool this I have a lot of the people coming and matching. More support than I think I have in a lot the other tournaments.

Also I'm only two hours from Charlottesville. That's where we live, so not much traveling.

Q. Family still in Chesapeake?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: No, my parents are in Houston. They actually came to Dallas though, two tournaments ago. Just drove up. I think my mom might fly out tonight. We'll see. Just the flights are really expensive, so we'll see.

Q. More people shouting your name behind the ropes here?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yes.

Q. Does that alarm you sometimes?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: No.

Q. Do you have to sort of get back, like, Oh, yeah, right; I'm an hour from home?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: No, it's fun. It's fun to -- helps get the momentum going and stuff.

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