Golf

Lauren Coughlin holds first-round lead at the Chevron Championship

Defending champion Lilia Vu withdrew moments before tee-off due to a back injury.

Lauren Coughlin hit from the bunker on the eighth green during the first round at the Chevron Championship (Eric Gay/AP)
Lauren Coughlin hit from the bunker on the eighth green during the first round at the Chevron Championship (Eric Gay/AP) (Eric Gay/AP)
By Rachel Vickers-Price, PA

After shooting an opening 66 at the Chevron Championship in Texas on Thursday, American golfer Lauren Coughlin has a first-round lead for just the second time in her career.

Coughlin went bogey-free with three birdies on the front nine and three on the back nine on the first day of the tournament.

She hit 14 of 18 greens, recorded 10 one-putts and needed just 26 putts overall to get through her first round.

“I think my husband and I had a really good game plan, and I wasn’t trying to be too aggressive out there. Just trying to take a 30-footer or, I might have a chip here or there, just knowing that that’s the appropriate place to be,” she said.

Her husband, John Pond, recently started caddying for her.

She added: “Not trying to be too aggressive in certain spots and taking what, certainly there’s some holes, good pins and stuff that you can go at stuff, but overall, I was just trying to take what it would give me and not trying to force anything.”

Coughlin is making her 11th appearance in an LPGA Tour major championship this week. The American has made the cut in just two of her 10 previous starts in majors, but finished T15 and T16, respectively, in the 2023 and 2022 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Two strokes behind Coughlin are two-time LPGA Tour winner Marina Alex, eight-time JLPGA winner Minami Katsu and major champion Nelly Korda, who is chasing her fifth win in as many consecutive starts on Tour.

Defending champion Lilia Vu withdrew from the Chevron Championship moments before her first-round tee-off on Thursday due to a back injury.