Q. All right, here with Lauren Coughlin after her first round at the Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands. Lauren, coming off, what, top 5 finish last week into this week.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Seventh, but that's okay.
Q. Top 10 finish.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Close enough.
Q. After last week, just coming in with another great round, how are you feeling after today?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah really good. It was the first week with the new caddie, so was kind of just trying to get in a really good rhythm. I felt like we kind of were -- we got in a very good rhythm out there today, so that was kind of fun.
Had a good time. I'm friends with Linnea and Nasa and Gregor, Nasa's caddie, so it was just a really nice, fun round.
Q. For the record, who is on the bag for you this week?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Kurt. He caddied for Ally Ewing for the last year and a half, two years or so.
Q. What was the vibe out there with him today? Clearly shot 66; good round. So how did he help with that?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, I think we -- it seemed like we were on a lot of the same page in picking clubs and numbers and stuff in the practice rounds, and so it was nice to kind of see it happened again out there.
But, yeah, I mean, I've known Kurt for a while now, too, just in passing. He caddied for me one time in 2023 and we got along really, really well. Yeah, I think we had a lot to talk about because we're still getting to know each other, which is always fun, which I like to talk a lot out there, so getting to know him and stuff. We had a lot to chat about.
Q. You're one of the breakout stars of the 2024 season with wins, Solheim Cup, all the things that you did last year. How have you translated that into your confidence on the golf course this season?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, I think a lot of it is just what I'm doing is working in a certain sense. There are definitely still things I need to work on and get better, but a lot of what I do in my full swing, like I've been able to keep it strong for a really long time.
So just not making any changes in the stuff I was doing really well, but then working on the areas that I need to focus on and try to get better in those areas, but, again, not neglecting anything that I do really well.
I didn't have much of an offseason so I don't think I had too much rust to be honest. My husband and I bought a house or townhouse in Jupiter so I spent the last three weeks down there. Played a lot of golf. We're good friends with Olly and Emily, Olly Brett and Emily Pedersen, so I played a bunch of golf.
Just kind of was able to keep a lot of things going.
Q. You had a lot of off-course opportunities that I know cropped up because you rose so quickly in those three or four weeks. What was that like and how do you keep yourself and maybe your expectations in check when you're doing all these things and people are asking you about all the stuff you did last season?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, I think I've done a good job of reflecting on it in my own time, trying to reflect and still think back and take a lot of positives on what I did, but also kind of move on in a sense and not get stuck in the past, even though it's all everybody talks to me about.
But I think I'm just trying to have fun, as much fun as I can out there, and it's very cliche, but doing all the things that I do well, that I learned to do really well, which was being in my process, staying in my bubble, doing a lot of that little stuff.
But I'm getting asked to do a lot more, so I keep being told, you can say no, and I just -- I haven't quite really said no to anything yet just because most things have made kind of like, oh, yeah, that sounds cool. I can do that.
I'm sure eventually I might see myself starting to say no to some things.
Q. Which is okay.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah.
Q. What are your goals for the season?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, International Crown in Korea is like my big, big one.
It just seems like -- I've played in Korea a couple times and just the thought of doing it in that type of setting seems like almost too good to be true.
So that's like my big one that I'm focusing -- everything I'm doing is kind of going to try to make this team.
Q. Where are you playing in South Florida?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: I joined the Dye Preserve.
Q. Oh, yeah.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: So they have probably 20, 25 like PGA, Korn Ferry, some LIV guys, and then Aza is a member there as well.
Q. Gotcha. I know Terry had back surgery. Is there a chance he's coming back?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: He hasn't had surgery yet.
Q. Oh, he hasn't. Oh.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: No, his back was a lot worse than they initially thought, so hopefully -- they're supposed to hopefully schedule it next week.
Q. Okay.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: So he's got to get a fusion more likely than not. I mean, I'm hoping he can come back but I don't have any real clarity on if he can, when he can yet.
I'm hoping once he has the surgery I'll have a little bit better idea. Like was it successful? How is he recovering? What are they thinking the timetable is going to be?
I mean, realistically probably if he can come back it probably won't be until towards later in the year.
Q. Yeah.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Again, I didn't really know that until -- not to his fault or anything, but he didn't have a contrast MRI and didn't get the results back until close to like Christmas, and so at that point like anybody -- I had already been planning on having Kurt do this week and do west coast, and then Olly is going to caddie for me in Asia because Rose isn't playing.
But after that I hadn't really thought much of it, and so I'm kind of just waiting to see when he's going to actually get the surgery and kind of -- was kind of really testing, seeing if I liked Kurt, if we jived well, if we got along, if we could talk a lot.
That's a lot of it. A lot of guys can do the Xs and O, but do you get along? Can you spend that much time together? It's like a relationship, so that's what I was trying to see. It was a really good time out there today, so...
Q. Who is John on?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Caddieing for Gurleen Kaur. Yeah, caddied for her at The ANNIKA, and then she went back to Q-School, got her card, and they got on pretty well that week so she asked him to start. He did last week for me just because I didn't want to just give anybody TOC, so if Terry wasn't going to do it it was going to be him. Yeah, that was kind of always the plan.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports