Sagstrom beats Coughlin 1-up in T-Mobile Match Play to end 5-year drought on LPGA Tour

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — The five-year wait to end her LPGA Tour victory drought appeared to be a matter of time when Madelene Sagstrom went 4-up just six holes into the final of the T-Mobile Match Play.

Then it nearly got away from her, and Sagstrom even briefly fell behind at one point.

She righted herself, however, as Lauren Coughlin struggled down the stretch, for a 1-up victory Sunday at a Shadow Creek course that proved a difficult challenge for both players.

Sagstrom took the lead for good with a par at the par-5 16th hole. Coughlin made a double bogey on the hole.

Perhaps it was a fitting when the world's top-ranked players fell one after another at the picturesque but demanding course that someone ranked 67th claimed the $300,000 winner's share. The Swede's other win came in 2020 at the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio.

“I thought last week, ‘Am I ever going to play good golf again?’” Sagstrom said. “As professional golfers, it’s (a) very rewarding job when it goes well, but extremely difficult when it’s tough and I’ve questioned myself a lot in my career. Am I good enough to play against these girls? Am I going to be one of the best players in the world? I’ve always had the ambition to be, but then I never know really.”

The final match reached the 18th green for the first time the 5-year-old event.

In a battle of 32-year-olds, Sagstrom had a four-hole lead after just six holes when Coughlin bogeyed No. 2 and she rolled off three consecutive birdies beginning at No. 4. But then the match changed, with a suddenly shaky Sagstrom missing off the tee and failing to navigate the lightning-quick greens that took even well-struck approach shots into the rough.

“It’s a wonderful golf course, but it will test your whole game,” Sagstrom said. “Unless we play match play here, I can see this being a U.S. Open course. It’s such a good golf course that challenges you from putting, strategy, from everything. What surprises me the most is this oasis of a golf course that just sits here. It’s like you come in here and you’re in a little different world.”

Couglin claimed five of the next six holes to take the lead. Though she did her part with a pair of birdies, Coughlin also didn't have to do anything spectacular as Sagstrom carded three bogeys and two doubles over that stretch.

Then Coughlin bogeyed the par-3 13th, and Sagstrom made par to pull back even, which is where the match stood until the 16th.

Both players failed to stay out of the rough, with Coughlin even twice chipping from about the same spot after the ball rolled back on her. Coughlin finally conceded the hole after her 30-foot putt went well past and the double bogey put Sagstrom back in the lead.

“That’s the challenge of this golf course and why it’s both fun and extremely difficult at the same time,” Coughlin said. “You can hit some really cool shots off some banks and stuff, but also if you get on the wrong side of those, it’s really, really tough. It’s hard to judge, like when is the ball starting to go far? And then when is it not going far anymore?”

Coughlin, ranked 17th, has been a tough out all tournament. She played in at least 18 holes in every match, a total of 127 compared to 72 for a traditional stroke-play tournament. Coughlin was 3-down in her previous two matches before rallying to win, including a 1-up victory over Ariya Jutanugarn in the semifinals Sunday morning.

“I don’t think I ran out of gas at all,” Coughlin said. “I feel like the adrenaline kept me through all day, all day yesterday. Felt worse yesterday afternoon than I did today, actually. I just kind of lost it there a little bit at the end. Just didn’t get any putts to go. Other than that, I feel like I played really, really good golf today.”

Sagstrom has been pushed to the limits as well.

She survived a 19-hole round-of-16 match against Carlota Ciganda on Saturday and then had to wait more than two hours as Celine Boutier and Ashleigh Buhai went at it over 28 holes. Then it became another marathon of a match as Sagstrom and Boutier were tied through 17 as darkness set in. The match was suspended, and Sagstrom finished up early Sunday morning with a 19th-hole quarterfinals victory.

Sagstrom then took out 12th-ranked Angel Yin 4 and 2 in the semifinals.

Coughlin was seeking her first victory since the Scottish Open in August. The Charlottesville, Virginia, resident has two career victories, both last year.

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