After a winless drought of nearly 1,900 days, Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom came out on top at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards by defeating American Lauren Coughlin in the finals at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas
Prior to Sunday’s final rounds, Sagstrom won out against Angel Yin after playing only 16 holes in her morning semi-finals. Coughlin’s semi-finals played out differently as she earned her pass into the finals against Sagstrom only after six straight matches of 18 holes or more against Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn. She eventually triumphed over Jutanugarn 1-up on the par-3 17th hole.
In the final match, Sagrstrom took an early lead on the second hole and she went on to win holes 4, 5 and 6, extending her lead to four shots. But Coughlin didn’t let up, winning holes 7, 8, and 9 to cut back the deficit. They were tied on the 11th and the American briefly took the lead at the 12th. The match remained tight as the pair tied the next few but Sagstrom regained her 1-up lead at the par-5 16th. Coughlin was unable to produce a late charge meaning the Swede hoisted the Match Play trophy.
“I worked so hard. All of us work so hard,” said the 32-year-old winner afterwards. “I really struggled quite a lot, especially with my driver end of last year, and I worked so hard with Callaway and my coach, Hans. I feel so comfortable standing over the ball at the moment, and most of the time, it comes out nice. It’s such a nice feeling.
“I played pretty well last week and didn’t make the cut, but it’s hard because everyone works hard because it’s tough out here. It’s a fantastic feeling, and it’s knowing that all the hard work really did pay off.”
Coughlin left disappointed without her third LPGA Tour title but she was content with the lessons learned. She played a total of seven matches of 18 holes or more throughout the five days of the event.
When asked about her takeaways from the week, she said: “That I can play 72 holes in two days, which I didn’t know I could do that. But, again, I think it’s just who I am as a player is a grinder, and I fought all the way to the end. I feel like I saw parts of my game be really solid in every single match and parts not great. I don’t feel like I played my best golf this week, and I still almost won.
“I think that’s a lot of positives I can take away. Still some stuff to work on, but I think it’s a really positive direction going into the meat of the season.”
What is the next event?
The next event on the LPGA Tour schedule is the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro taking place between 17-20 April at Los Angeles, California in the U.S.