THE MODERATOR: Here with Lauren Coughlin after her final round of the championship. You made quite a drive today. Talk about the emotions and what you were feeling during your round today.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, obviously I knew I was playing really well, and I tried not to look at the scoreboard just because it has never really worked out well for me in the past, but it was kind of hard not to at times. I knew I was playing well but I don't think I knew how well until I accidentally saw it on 12, and that's when I was like -- no, I saw it on 14, and I was like, oh, okay. But I was kind of already feeling a little bit of nerves there. But it wasn't really nerves, it was more adrenaline.
But my husband -- I told him that I was feeling it, and then he just kind of talked me through, like hey, let's stay in the moment, stay in the process and keep doing what we do.
Q. Best finish thus far in your career; what does that mean, as well, all the hard work that's been leading up to this moment?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, it's really cool to see all of the work that I've put in, especially with my putting and my short game, and putting specifically showed off this week, as well.
I know my stats have never said that I was a very good putter, but I didn't feel as bad as what they said. I really struggled with speed control, and about eight weeks ago, my former assistant coach, Brian Bailey, kind of gave me this drill to do, and he's been trying to get me to do it for years, and I finally listened.
Yeah, it's completely changed my putting.
Q. What does this kind of a finish in this big of an event do for you going forward?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: I hope I can use it as momentum. Solheim is my main goal this year. It's an hour up the road from my house where I live in Virginia. Not only getting to represent my country but my state would mean a lot.
That's what I'm really focusing on, really trying to work on for this year.
Q. Shaping up to be your best finish in a major championship. To have that and to be able to ride that as you look ahead to the rest of the year, what does that mean? Can you put into words what it meant to play such good golf out here this week?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, I don't think it's quite hit me yet, especially that putt on that last hole. A lot of times I've left things short, and the chip I kind of knew I needed to try to put a little bit of pressure on Nelly. Not that I don't think she really feels it all that much. I was trying to get to 11. That's why I hit it so far by. But to make the putt coming back to potentially lock up second or T2 would be pretty awesome.
Q. What does it mean to hear those crowds roar? We don't often get crowds this big out here.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: It was awesome. My husband said to me, look how cool this is that this is where we are right now, and yeah, it was awesome. It was awesome to hear. It was awesome to see the putt go in, knowing that I could make a putt in that type of moment.
Q. You have your parents here, your grandfather here, your husband on the bag. What kinds of family did you feel this week, as well, having everyone here and present?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, my parents have lived here for like 12 years, so it was kind of like a home away from home. I used to spend off-seasons here like January through April. The last few years I haven't, I've just stayed home in Virginia. So it's kind of nice to have my second home be where I'm 15 minutes away from a major championship. Not many people get that. To have my mom cook, my dad make me breakfast, just have all my friends over, players, caddies over, the Ping reps over on Tuesday was super fun. It's a week unlike any other for me.
Q. For you or anybody out here, you knew that you were going to have to run down Nelly if someone else was going to win today. What did you think it would take? Did you have a score in mind, or what did you think knowing that at the end she's going to be there somewhere and now you're going to probably wind up finishing second?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, I didn't think about it too much. All I knew is I was trying to stay in the moment, stay in the process and control what I can control is kind of some things I've been working on for a long time. I tend to get ahead of myself and start thinking about outcome and results, and a lot of it bad usually.
I was really just trying to stay in the moment and go through my process and hit the shots and see where they ended up.
Q. If you do wind up finishing second to a really generational player, does that give you even more positive momentum do you think?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, just on the run that she's going right now, not many people have done that in our sport. To be playing against someone like that, knowing that I could hang with her for a tournament like this in this type of setting is very cool, and I hope I can use it again for the rest of the year.
Q. You're very calm and collected most of the time, and I can feel that you've got kind of emotions that you're trying to keep in. What are the emotions that you're feeling right now, now that you've kind of come through media, people are asking about your momentum and kind of your play? What are the emotions that you're feeling in this moment?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Probably just relief, I guess, or maybe -- yeah, just, oh, wow, I can do it. That's definitely something that I've probably struggled with is having that belief that I am capable. So yeah, that's probably it.
Q. When you say "relief," have there ever been times that you didn't think this kind of round or this kind of tournament was out there for you?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Oh, yeah. I almost quit my first two years playing. But yeah, I think, again, it was just -- putting has been something that's kind of held me back at moments, and just to make some putts when I needed to was really cool and really fun. It's definitely something that I struggled to see myself doing at times, and so to do them today was pretty awesome.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports