For Lauren Coughlin, returning to action on the LPGA Tour after her marathon effort at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards has been a breeze so far.

Coughlin fired a 6-under 66 on Thursday and sits just three shots back of the early lead as the afternoon wave got underway at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro.

“I hit it very, very well all day,” Coughlin said on Thursday. “Drove it really well. Missed one fairway, and it was like by two inches, and then one green.”

Coughlin ended up falling to Madelene Sagstrom 1 down at Shadow Creek a couple of weeks ago after playing a total of 127 holes throughout the tournament, compared to the normal 72 for a stroke-play event.

Alas, after a break at home last week, Coughlin has seemingly picked up where she left off, golf-wise.

The 32-year-old, who won twice last year, including the CPKC Women’s Open, which was her maiden LPGA Tour title, and the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open, started on the back nine at El Caballero Country Club. She birdied the par-4 11th hole before adding four birdies in a row as she made the turn on Nos. 17 and 18 and holes 1 and 2, all thanks to approach shots inside of 12 feet. She added one last circle to her first-round scorecard on the par-5 7th hole.

Coughlin admitted her putting was solid at the T-Mobile Match Play until close to the end, but that was an important key to her success on Thursday, as was her tidy ball-striking effort. She went 13-for-14 in fairways found and hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation.

“I feel like I putted really well at Shadow Creek up until the last two days, and fatigue and everything finally caught up to me. My setup got a little off, so worked on that, and I started rolling it really well out there today,” she said. “I putted and hit it really well. Really good start.”

Coughlin said after the T-Mobile Match Play that she was running on adrenaline through the final few matches. As soon as she had an opportunity to relax after the finale, her “legs were dead.”

“We wanted to go to this pizza place in (The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas) that was only like a 10-minute walk. It’s not that far. I was like, ‘I can’t do it,’” Coughlin said with a laugh. “Mentally, I was pretty exhausted. I had a sponsor outing in Dallas last week (and) didn’t really touch a club much Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Got back into it Saturday morning and then just enjoyed watching the Masters.”

Coughlin has had two top 10s so far in 2025, including her runner-up in Las Vegas and a seventh-place finish at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. She’s rounding into form with the first major of the year, The Chevron Championship, on tap, a tournament in which Coughlin finished T3 last year.

She said she enjoyed her time reflecting on all she was able to accomplish in 2024 and the “leaps” she made mentally and with her golf game, but now she has realized there’s an opportunity to move on.

“There are definitely still things I can work on, that I can get better on, and making bigger goals to try to reach those as well,” Coughlin said. “And I didn’t get much of an offseason. I think, in the grand scheme of things, that probably helped. I didn't get much time to take off, so I didn't lose it too much. I was able to get back pretty quickly after I took some time.”

That perfectly sums up her last few weeks as well. Despite a marathon run to the finals at the T-Mobile Match Play, Coughlin has returned quickly to competition on the LPGA Tour and has already given herself a great chance to keep that momentum going this week.

Lauren Coughlin Back in the Mix After Match-Play Marathon

Related Articles