Lauren Coughlin wins Aramco Championship by five shots at Shadow Creek

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — After coming oh so close to winning at Shadow Creek last year, Lauren Coughlin made sure victory was never truly in doubt Sunday in the Aramco Championship in rolling to a five-shot win over Nelly Korda and the rest of the star-studded field.

Coughlin shot an even-par 72 for a 7-under total and her first victory in two years, earning the 33-year-old from Virginia US$600,000. She won her third LPGA Tour title and first in the United States, after winning in Canada and Scotland in 2024.

Korda was runner-up yet again after shooting a 75 and finishing at 2 under. She made her one birdie on the par-5 18th, avoiding going without one in a round for the first time since the first day of The ANNIKA last November in the Tampa Bay area.

This was her third consecutive second-place finish after opening her season by winning in Orlando, Florida, moving Korda up a spot to No. 1 in the world ranking.

Leona Maguire (71) also finished at 2 under, and the only other player with an under-par score was Miyu Yamashita (74) at 1 under.

Anna Huang of Vancouver, B.C., finished in a two-way tie for 13th at 4 over, while Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., finished in a four-way tie for 23rd at 7 over.

Korda wasn’t the only tough competitor for Coughlin to overcome. The $4 million prize money in the event organized by Golf Saudi and co-sanctioned by the LPGA and Ladies European Tour drew 38 of the top 40 players. It’s the first such event in the United States, and more appear to becoming to North America.

Players compared this tournament to a major because Shadow Creek because birdies were so difficult to come by. Only four players wound up under par for the tournament.

Coughlin, the former two-time Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year at Virginia, showed why she feels comfortable at Shadow Creek, even though the format for this year’s tournament switched from match to stroke play. She made the final pairing last year before a 1-up loss to Madelene Sagstrom.

Her comfort was evident all four days around the 6,765-yard track that makes players pay dearly for putting the ball in poor locations. Coughlin was in a three-way tie for the lead after the first round and never relinquished that position as others fell off.

She came close to turning the tournament into a laugher at times Friday and Saturday, but going into the final round, Coughlin enjoyed just a two-shot margin over Korda, the 2024 LPGA Tour Player of the Year. Korda ended the third round with back-to-back birdies and an apparent message she wasn’t going anywhere.

But then the final round began, and it became clear fairly quickly which direction the tournament was heading. Coughlin began to pull away and all but ensured at the eighth green she would be the one to place her hands on the trophy.

Coughlin rolled in a downhill right-to-left 45-footer for birdie on the par 3. Korda then preceded to triple putt, including missing a two-footer for par.

Suddenly, Coughlin was at 9 under and Korda at 3 under — and the rest of the round all but a formality. Korda got within four shots when Coughlin opened the back nine by bogeying the 10th and 12th holes, but Korda did the same on Nos. 13 and 15 to again make it a six-shot difference.

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