NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 26, 2026

Lauren Coughlin

Pinnacle Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Lauren Coughlin after her second round here at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G. I mean, nine birdies in a row; LPGA Tour history. Take us through the front, all the emotions, all the shots -- some of the better shots. All of them were birdies. But, yeah.

LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, I think I made about a 12-footer on the first hole which kind of got me started for the day. Then I hit it to pretty close on 11.

Yeah, I don't know. I just was making a lot of those mid-range putts. I hit everything pretty much inside 12 feet on my whole front nine. My longest putt might've been 17, which was probably about 15-ish feet or so.

But other than that, everything just seemed to be going exactly how far I wanted it to, right at the hole and I was putting really good putts on it as well.

Yeah, felt like I started to get a little bit of adrenaline pretty much nine green on for the next few holes, but then I made the birdie on three so I thought I was like, I really have a chance now.

Then, yeah, just couldn't quite get it close enough unfortunately last few holes.

Q. We'll talk about that number in a second.

LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah.

Q. When you're in that stretch of nine birdies, at what point do you look at your caddie and you're like, we're doing something here?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: I just told Karen, I said the most birdies I ever made in a row was six in my whole life. When I made the one on 16 I went to my caddie and said, that's the most I've ever made in my whole life, seven in a row.

And then obviously -- then I made another one on 17 and he goes, now that's the most you've ever made in a row.

Yeah, then I was thinking actually about I had Terry McNamara caddie for me who caddied for Annika for a really, really long time. I was thinking about when Annika shot 59.

I was telling a couple stories I heard from him. We were waiting on 18 tee and I was kind of thinking about it then. She birdied eight in a row and par'd nine and looked at him and was like, okay, now I can make more birdies.

That's what she thought in the moment.

So, yeah, I just want to keep making as many as I could. Yeah, I feel like I wasn't thinking about it too, too much until about my ninth hole.

Q. You mentioned 59 crossed your mind. At what point did it cross your mind, and how do you maybe temper -- you said you had a lot of adrenaline. How do you temper the adrenaline of that possibility versus knowing what you still had to do?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, I think after I made the birdie on the third hole I think, one, it became a little bit more real because I was like, okay, I only need two more.

But the fourth hole is really difficult. Had a really good two-putt on that. After that I thought I might get a chance and just kept getting tweeners and just couldn't hit it quite as close the last few holes. But I hit a lot of really good putts coming down the stretch. Just couldn't get any of them to go in.

Q. Did you see a round like this coming?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: No. I shot 2-over yesterday. I bogeyed like three of the four par-5s yesterday. I mean, it's such -- you know, Solheim was so awesome and so great and like it's kind of hard to come back after that for a little bit. I feel like yesterday like all week even I was like don't really want to be here.

But I told my caddie today, I don't really want to be here but I'm going to try as hard as I can today, and...

Q. Here we are.

LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah.

Q. I know now you're a little bit of a Solheim veteran, but how do you come back from such an intense week to now just you and your caddie again?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, it's a bit of a comedown. I enjoy coming to this tournament a lot of. The coffee is great. The food is great. The town is great. The people are great. Everything about this tournament is really great.

It's just like so hard when it's two weeks after the biggest event of our whole career. But I really enjoy coming a lot. My parents come every year to this one.

So, yeah, I don't know. It's just hard. I didn't really have it figured out until all of a sudden today happened.