Lauren Coughlin achieved two unprecedented feats in LPGA Tour history Saturday.

Opening her second round at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G, Coughlin carded nine consecutive birdies. It marks the first time a player, both on the LPGA Tour and PGA TOUR, has started a round with nine straight birdies in recorded history.

Her 9-hole score of 26 is also the lowest raw 9-hole score ever recorded on the LPGA Tour.

Simply put, Coughlin had the best nine holes anyone has ever seen, and she broke two records doing it.

Those nine birdies immediately put Coughlin on 59 watch, as she sought to become just the second player in LPGA Tour history to shoot a sub-60 round. Annika Sorenstam was the first, carding a 59 at the Standard Register PING in 2001.

Coughlin shares a connection to Sorenstam through Terry McNamara, Sorenstam's longtime caddie, who has also caddied for Coughlin. During their time together, McNamara shared numerous stories about Sorenstam, which Coughlin found herself reminiscing about during her historic run.

“I was telling a couple stories I heard from him,” she said. “We were waiting on 18 tee and I was kind of thinking about it then. She birdied eight in a row and parred nine and looked at him and was like, ‘Okay, now I can make more birdies.’”

Coughlin took it one birdie further than Sorenstam, making her ninth consecutive birdie on the 18th hole after starting her round on the back nine. After making the turn to the front nine, she parred her next two holes before adding another birdie on No. 3. That moved her to 10 under for the day with six holes remaining.

She finished the round with six straight pars to sign for a 10-under-par 61 — short of a 59, but still a remarkable comeback.

“I hit a lot of really good putts coming down the stretch. Just couldn't get any of them to go in.”

Coughlin entered Saturday at 2-over-par and in danger of missing the cut. Asked if she anticipated such a performance, she laughed.

“No. I shot 2-over yesterday,” Coughlin said. “I bogeyed like three of the four par-5s yesterday.”

She also noted the challenge of refocusing after competing in the Solheim Cup two weeks earlier.

“Solheim was so awesome and so great and like it's kind of hard to come back after that for a little bit,” Coughlin said.

Her record-setting round vaulted her 106 spots up the leaderboard into the top 25 heading into Sunday's final round, eight strokes off the lead.

Lauren Coughlin Cards Nine Straight Birdies, Breaks Two Records

Related Articles