Lauren Coughlin and Andrew Novak birdied five of their final six holes to break away from the pack and win the Grant Thornton Invitational on Sunday in Naples, Fla.
The tournament that pairs players from the PGA and LPGA tours, although unofficial, is the second team event Novak has won this year. He and Ben Griffin each secured their first PGA Tour titles when they triumphed at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April.
This week, he had another beneficial pairing with Coughlin, who is one year removed from a breakout 2024 season in which she won the LPGA’s Canadian and Scottish opens and went 3-0-1 at the Solheim Cup for the victorious United States team.
“I think it’s great visibility for the LPGA to be able to partner with the PGA Tour and to get to play with some of the best players in the world on the men’s side,” Coughlin said. “It’s just super fun getting to meet some of the guys that I probably wouldn’t have gotten to meet.”
After the field of 16 teams played a scramble format Friday and foursomes (alternate shot) Saturday, Sunday’s format at Tiburon Golf Club was a modified fourball (best ball). Both players teed off and then switched balls for the remainder of the hole. The lower score between the partners counted as the team’s score.
“Lauren’s probably the single most reliable golfer I’ve ever played with,” Novak said. “I knew no matter what, I was going to be hitting from the fairway.”
Coughlin and Novak entered the day with a one-shot edge on the field. They put together a bogey-free, 9-under-par 63 thanks to their late scoring surge. That put them at 28-under 188 for the three-round event.
“We kind of knew we had a lot of holes left, so we knew that we could make plenty of birdies coming in, we’ll have plenty of chances,” Coughlin said. “Andrew putted really great today, made a lot of birdies for us. So yeah, it was a lot of fun.”
The duos of Jennifer Kupcho/Chris Gotterup and Nelly Korda/Denny McCarthy also fired 63s to give chase, but they finished in a tie for second at 25-under 191 along with Michael Brennan and England’s Charley Hull (65).
“It was a no-brainer to come here and play with Nelly,” McCarthy said. “You know, had I been a little sharper, maybe our names would be on top of the leaderboard.”
The team of Lexi Thompson/Wyndham Clark, co-leaders after the first round and third place after Saturday, faded to a tie for 10th (20 under) after posting a 69.
