Lauren Coughlin – Photo by Max Bechtoldt/Women’s Golf Daily News
Lauren Coughlin continued to show off her skills at Shadow Creek near Las Vegas, shooting -5 67 in the first round of The Aramco Championship, putting her in a share for the lead with Nasa Hataoka and Miyu Yamashita.
Coughlin started well with birdies on the 10th and 11th holes, her first two of the day. She collected two additional birdies on the par 5s that nine, 16 and 18. After making the turn, she had two birdies before a bogey on the final hole.
It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Coughlin is playing well at Shadow Creek. It generally benefits elite ball strikers like her, and she finished runner up at this event last year at the match play event.
Yamashita played her game, hitting a lot of fairways and putting at an elite level. She hit 13 fairways and had only 24 putts. Her round started slow, going +1 through eight, before making an eagle and three birdies around the turn. She got one more birdie coming in on the eighth hole.
Hataoka started with a bogey before making four birdies in seven holes on the front nine. She finished off the round with birdies on each of the back nine par 5s.
Once again, Nelly Korda and Hyo Joo Kim have put themselves into contention, each shooting -4 68s. Korda started hot with four birdies on her first seven holes before hitting some stumbles on the back, dropping two shots. She got both of those back though with a clutch eagle on 18.
The Aramco Championship continues Friday.
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