Defending champion Lauren Coughlin is looking forward to the week ahead at the 2025 ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open.
The American secured a four-stroke victory at Dundonald Links in 2024 defeating Germany’s Esther Henseleit to claim the trophy.
Coughlin, who went on the be part of the winning U.S. Team at the 2024 Solheim Cup, had plenty of memories when she practiced on the course early in the week.
“It’s really cool to be back here,” said the defending champion. “It’s my first time defending, so it’s exciting. I have a lot of memories here for sure, really good ones, but I’m very happy to be back in Scotland.
“I have memories of some of the shots, especially on the back nine on Sunday. Overall, I’m just very happy and excited to be back and ready to get going for the week.
“[On defending] I was thinking about it a little bit coming into this week, just with it being the first time doing it, new feels etc. but I feel like I’m trying to just do a really good job of just get ready and really focusing on this week and doing what I need to do to play well again this year.
“It’s playing a little bit softer, especially in the fairways right now, so that’s a bit different. I think they have got a decent amount of rain, heavy rain at times in the last few days. I would say that would be the only difference. The greens are relatively soft, and fairways are not as firm as they were last year.”
Coughlin has been in Europe for the past few weeks as she played the Amundi Evian Championship and then went to Sweden to stay with friend and six-time LET winner Maja Stark.
The 32-year-old is playing back-to-back weeks of links golf with the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open followed by the AIG Women’s Open at Royal Porthcawl.
Coughlin enjoys playing at the Women’s Scottish Open before the final Major of the year, as she can get used to playing in the wind.
She continued: “It’s nice to come over and get used to the wind and how much the ball can move in it. Just getting a feel for it and thinking in a little bit different ways, trying to get the ball on the ground a lot quicker and things that you don’t really think about when you’re over in the States. It’s nice to get used to all that leading into the AIG Women’s Open.
“I have another set of irons that have some bounce taken off for really firm turf. It’s a little soft out there right now. They have been getting a bunch of rain the last few days, so not sure if I’ll be putting them in play or not.
“Overall, just thinking about that and last week I went to Sweden, stayed with Maja Stark at her parents. It was my first time in Sweden. I had a lot of fun, played a couple rounds of golf in Sweden, and got to experience sailing and her small village that she lives in. It was very cool.”
Coughlin will begin her title defence at 1.15 pm (local time) alongside 2022 champion Ayaka Furue of Japan and Germany’s Henseleit.
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