Lauren Coughlin of the United States tees off on the second hole during the first round of the Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club on July 11, 2024 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
Lauren Coughlin has never made the cut at the Evian Championship, but she opened with a 65 this time around and credited a number of changes. First, she addressed the fact that she’s never been comfortable playing off uneven lies. She worked with her longtime coach, John Lewellen, during the off week and felt more confident going into her fourth appearance at the event.
“Just a lot of it is just don’t try to fight it, don’t try to fight the slope,” she said. “I figured out that I need to almost like not thin it but a little bit, like when it’s above my feet, and then like below my feet, just squat a little bit more to get down to it.”
A second aide came in the form of Annika Sorenstam’s longtime caddie Terry McNamara, who has been on the bag for the last five weeks.
“He was like, everything goes to the lake, not just the lake, the town, especially city center where we’re staying,” she said.
“So really trying to make sure I’m taking that into account when I’m looking at what I a seeing and just trusting it. I’ve heard it in the past, but it’s a lot harder to put into practice.”
Coughlin, 31, is making a fine push to make her first U.S. Solheim Cup team. She’s currently eighth on the points list (the top seven qualify) and is ranked 56th in the world.