Montreal (AFP) – Lauren Coughlin, seeking her first LPGA title, birdied three of the first five holes and clung to a one-stroke lead after Friday’s second round of the Canadian Women’s Open. The 31-year-old American grinded out pars in windy conditions to fire a two-under par 70 and stand on six-under 138 after 36 holes at Earl Grey Golf Club in Calgary.
“I hung in there and got a good round out of it,” Coughlin said. “I think I handled it really well overall. I putted extremely well. My speed control was on pretty much all day.”
Australia’s Hannah Green also shot 70 to share second on 139 with South Korea’s Ryu Hae-ran, with a fourth-place pack on 141 including Americans Jennifer Kupcho and Lilia Vu and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko. Coughlin, who fired a 68 on Thursday for a one-stroke lead, birdied the par-5 first hole and added back-to-back birdies at the par-5 fourth and par-3 fifth holes.
“It felt good to get the birdies in to start. Took advantage of the par-5s there,” Coughlin said. “The crosswinds were so difficult and they had a lot of back right pins and the wind is coming hard off the right. It’s just so hard to aim far enough right to get it to stay on the right level.”
From there, she parred on 12 of 13 holes, a lone bogey at 11 her worst moment of battling the wind. “I really only had one bad swing on 11 tee. Other than that, I feel like I hit everything really solid all day,” Coughlin said. “It was just really difficult to judge how far the ball was going to go with the wind and the crosswind and how firm the greens got. And they had some tough pins, especially considering the direction of the wind. It was a super solid round.”
World number 38 Coughlin had her best finishes so far this year at majors, sharing third at the Chevron Championship and placing fourth two weeks ago at the Evian Championship. That has helped boost the mental strength she has used to stay ahead in battling rivals and brisk breezes.
“Grit is something and just being mentally tougher than a lot of people is just something I’ve learned over the years, just because I’ve had to work really hard and persevere a lot throughout my career,” she said. “That’s why I can hang in there and I don’t get too down on myself. Always keep fighting. When it gets hard, that’s fine to me. I’m going to keep fighting the whole time.”
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