Two-time LPGA Tour winner Lauren Coughlin lived it up before making the trek to Oregon to compete this week at The Standard Portland Classic.

Coughlin spent last weekend in Seattle with her husband, John Pond, and some family friends, the latter of whom she also attended a Metallica concert with before the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June.

The group toured Pearl Jam’s headquarters on Friday as guests of Tim Bierman, a member of the band’s management team, and then played Chambers Bay on Saturday and Sunday as part of an event that was hosted by the No Laying Up podcast team, whose logo appears on Coughlin’s staff bag. Lauren and John even managed to work two baseball games into the fold, also watching both the Seattle Mariners and the Tacoma Rainiers play during their weekend getaway in Washington.

And while it was just a short trip, it was clearly the perfect mental refresh that Coughlin needed before teeing it up in three consecutive events on the LPGA Tour, a slate that started this week in Portland, will continue with Coughlin trying to successfully defend a title for the first time in her career at next week’s CPKC Women’s Open and then conclude at the FM Championship at TPC Boston.

“Just had a lot of super fun,” Coughlin said after the third round of The Standard Portland Classic. “Got to play golf with some friends that I don't get to do very often. On my caption on my Instagram, I don't get to play quote-unquote like fun golf with no other purpose than hanging out with people I enjoy being around and playing a cool golf course, so it was a lot of fun. Golf is our job, and it can beat you down and beat you down and beat you down.

“Getting to go do it in a way where the only goal or outcome is to have fun playing golf, it definitely recharges the batteries.”

After what was a soul-charging few days spent away from the grind of professional golf, Coughlin has found herself in contention with 18 holes remaining at The Standard Portland Classic, currently sitting in a tie for seventh at 11-under overall through three rounds at Columbia Edgewater Country Club.

The 32-year-old opened her week in Oregon with a 4-under 68 after making one bogey and five birdies on Thursday and then followed that up with a quieter 1-under 71 on Friday, carding three bogeys and four birdies.

Moving Day saw Coughlin catch fire, as she raced out of the gate with a birdie on the par-4 1st hole and then rattled off three straight birdies on holes five, six and seven to climb to 9-under for the tournament before making the turn. The Virginia native made two more birdies on the par-3 13th and the par-4 18th holes on her way back into the clubhouse to ultimately post a bogey-free 6-under 66, one that has Coughlin currently sitting seven shots behind 54-hole leader Akie Iwai.

“I feel like I found something on the range with my swing a little bit this morning, and then I felt like I've been putting really well all week. Just been really dialed and finally got some to go in consistently throughout the round,” said Coughlin. “When I went through that stretch where I wasn't playing all that well, it was putting-based. I feel like I found something early in this week. The greens are so pure, and they're rolling so good. Even on practice days, I felt like I was seeing them pretty well. When they're rolling this good, you just got to get it going on line with good pace.”

This is Coughlin’s sixth appearance in The Standard Portland Classic, and she had never fared too well in this long-standing event before tying for ninth with a 72-hole total of 17-under last season.

After what was a breakout year for Coughlin in 2024, one that saw her win twice in three weeks and qualify for her first U.S. Solheim Cup Team, 2025 has been a bit of a mixed bag of results thus far for the LPGA Tour veteran.

Coughlin missed four cuts in a five-tournament stretch over the summer, three of which were at majors, but she has still managed to record five top-15 results in her 16 tournaments ahead of this week event, two of which were top-three showings that came at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards (2) and the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro (T3).

And even though she’s likely a bit too far back to make a run at her third career title on Sunday in Portland, Coughlin still has a shot to collect another top-five finish at Columbia Edgewater Country Club, a performance that would surely bolster her confidence with her second-ever title defense coming up next week in Canada.

Lauren Coughlin Lurking in Oregon After Chambers Bay Trip and Pearl Jam HQ Visit

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