CPKC WOMEN'S OPEN

July 27, 2024

Lauren Coughlin

Earl Grey Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, I'm here with Lauren Coughlin after the third round here at the CPKC Women's Open. Lauren, one shot out of the lead going into tomorrow. Just describe some of the ups and downs of the round today.

LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, a lot of ups. Yeah, I mean, I played extremely well today. Obviously Haeran played an unbelievable round as well, but I felt like I hung in there really well.

Got a couple bad breaks. Like on 7, the lie I had in that rough was just really, really, really bad, like the worst I've had all week. I didn't hit that bad of a drive to be in that bad of a position.

But hung in there for sure. Yeah, she was making everything there to start, so I was just trying to stay in my own bubble and not get too into what she was doing as well, which was hard when she's playing as good as she was.

Again, I felt like I hung in there and was able to go blow for blow pretty much most of the day.

Q. Before you started your round Mao had already come in as 11-under. Did you see that on the leaderboard? That didn't motivate you at all then?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: I just didn't see it. I had looked to start the day but I hadn't really seen any -- I didn't really look too much.

Q. 11-under and an 8-under. Does that surprise you out here? Is that crazy or do you think that's achievable?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: No, I definitely thought it was achievable just because there wasn't much wind today. The greens are very, very good and they roll really well. We were very good out here and we hit it very straight even with how tight it is.

I kind of wasn't -- when I was thinking about the golf course come Wednesday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, talking with Terry I was like, okay, I wouldn't be surprised if someone went pretty low out here.

Q. You and Haeran played together today; play together tomorrow. Do you mind knowing exactly who -- what you have to do, the score? Not so much in a match play situation I guess, but the fact that you guys are so close, do you mind that heading into the final round?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: It's not the best thing to know, but at the same time, I'm not really going to try to pay too much attention to it. It's going to be hard obviously since we're playing together, but it'll be nice to know but, at the same time I'm going to try to do the best I can to just stay in myself and kind of try to stay in a little bubble with Terry and control what I can control, which is me.

Q. Looks like your ball striking has been the best so far in the field this week. How clutch has that been for you to score well?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, I mean, having many opportunities to make some putts is always good. Giving myself as many opportunities as I can. But I think it's my strength and always has been, so it's not surprising I guess. I mean, I've been hitting it extremely well since Evian really. I found something right around Evian and was able to keep it going in the off week and into this week as well.

Q. The stretch the first few holes has seemed really important for you this week. Birdied 1 almost every day, 3, and 5, too. Can you tell me what it is about those holes that suits you?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, I think I've just hit really good drives there on 1 every day, so giving myself an opportunity to go for it.

Yeah, hit a really good bunker shot there today. Hit a really good chip yesterday. I didn't really hit a great one on Thursday, but I made two 10-footers on the first two days and had about a two-footer today.

I think the drive visually sets up really well for me, and then kind of similar with, what else, 3 I guess is the par-3. I did 5. 5 I've birdied every day.

Q. Yeah, 5.

LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah. Again, I think it just has been good numbers. I made a really long one yesterday, but today it was a good number and then Thursday was a good number, so good club so I could swing pretty freely.

Q. I know the back nine has played pretty hard the last couple days. Do you feel any sort of pressure or rush to get your birdies in early as you head into the tougher stretch of holes?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, definitely. You want to come out guns firing in the beginning, because then you can kind of be a little behind the eight ball because everybody else is going to make birdies.

But today it played a little bit easier because it wasn't as windy. Yesterday a lot were crosswinds and 11 is a tough hole, but wasn't too windy today and wasn't too bad.

Yeah, I think overall there is just a couple tees that -- tee shots that have gotten me a little bit, but I was able to -- even though I didn't hit every fairway on the back nine, I was able to hang in there.