NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — Lauren Coughlin threatened for two days to run away with the Aramco Championship, but with hilly Shadow Creek living up to its reputation as course in which pars are good scores, she had to work hard for her two-shot lead going into the final round Sunday.
Coughlin shot a 1-over 73 on Saturday, and her 7-under score for the tournament was just one of five in red figures.
“This golf course is really, really hard, especially if you get in the wrong spot,” Coughlin said. “I felt like I did a pretty good job today of at least getting in spots, and if did get a little out, making sure I walked away with no worse than bogey.”
Nelly Korda birdied her final two holes to shoot a 69 to move to 5 under and in second place, setting up a final pairing of friendly rivals.
Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Miyu Yamashita were each 3 under and Leona Maguire was 1 under.
“Shadow definitely showed its colors the last couple days,” Korda said. “It’s been playing brutally hard, especially the back nine.”
Hyo Joo Kim almost certainly won’t extend her LPGA Tour winning streak to three after she opened the round with two bogeys and a double bogey over the first three holes. She dropped from a tie for second all the way down to a tie for 17th at 4 over after a 79.
Being withing striking is one thing in this loaded event, which has a $4 million purse and is co-sanctioned with the Ladies European Tour and part of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund Global Series. Making an actual charge is another as Saturday showed with several players getting close to Coughlin, but failing to make up the difference.
Korda, the world's second-ranked player and the 2024 champion of this event, came the closet, even getting to within a stroke before Coughlin birdied the par-5 18th.
Korda began to make an early charge after registering birdies at third and fourth holes to get to 4 under. She then hung around with pars on the next 10 holes before bogeying the par-4 15th to drop to 3 under. But Korda then finished birdie-birdie.
This year is beginning to resemble the magical 2024 season for Korda, who won seven times en route to becoming Player of the Year. Certainly better than last season when she failed to record a victory.
Through three tournaments this year, Korda owns a victory and two second-place finishes.
“I’m just playing really good golf,” Korda said. "I have always worked really, really hard, but I’m proud of the work that I’ve put in the past few weeks when I had off and didn’t go to Asia when the tour was there. I just feel refreshed, happy. I’m excited to compete.
“Last year was just a weird year where stuff was just not going my way by like centimeters. That wears on you, and that’s why I like taking like longer breaks.”
Coughlin last won in 2024, finishing first in Canada and Scotland.
She almost won at Shadow Creek last year, too, when it was a match-play event. Coughlin made it to the final pairing before losing to Madelene Sagstrom.
Her strong performance again this week shows Coughlin knows how to work her way around the course much better than most of her competitors.
“There are a few holes that you can make birdies, like the par 5s, 11, 12,” Coughlin said. “So trying to take advantage when you can and just holding on for dear life on the other holes.”
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Miyu Yamashita hits a tee shot on the 14th hole during the first round of the Aramco Championship LPGA golf tournament, Thursday, April 2, 2026, in North Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
Nelly Korda hits from a bunker on the 14th hole during the first round of the Aramco Championship golf tournament Thursday, April 2, 2026, in North Las Vegas, Nev. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
Lauren Coughlin hits a tee shot on the ninth hole during the first round of the Aramco Championship LPGA golf tournament, Thursday, April 2, 2026, in North Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Dan Hurley had UConn ready for another Final Four fight night. Once again, his Huskies scored a knockout.
Fabulous freshman Braylon Mullins made another last-minute 3-pointer — his only basket of the second half — and the Huskies muscled their way past Illinois 71-62 on Saturday to reach their third national championship game in four years.
Tarris Reed Jr. had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Mullins finished with 15 points as the Huskies (34-5) rode strong inside play and tough defense to their 19th straight victory in the Sweet 16 or later rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
They'll face either Arizona or Michigan with a chance to win their seventh national title, all since 1999, as Hurley tries to become the only active coach with more than two championships.
“We’re a tough program, we’re a group of fighters,” said Hurley, who won it all in 2023 and 2024. “We’ve got incredible will. We go into these games, we’re ready for battle. For us, it’s not a game that we’re just kind of running around in uniforms throwing the ball around, hoping it goes in. That’s not what we’re doing out there. We’re fighting. It’s a life-and-death struggle for us to get to Monday night for the opportunity to win a championship.”
Mullins sent the Huskies past Duke, the top overall seed, in the Elite Eight last weekend with the shot of the tourney — a 35-foot 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left. He was equally effective this time, a short drive from his hometown of Greenfield, Indiana.
After Silas Demary Jr. secured an offensive rebound, Mullins hit a catch-and-shoot 3 with 52 seconds left that gave UConn a 66-59 and thwarted Illinois' late charge.
“The set was going to be run for anybody on the team. You’ve just got to shoot with confidence,” Mullins said. “Just trying to find the best look on the floor, and I know our point guards are going to get us the ball, so I think that was the biggest shot I hit tonight.”
UConn needed it on a night star forward Alex Karaban struggled with his shot. He had nine points on 1-of-8 shooting while adding four rebounds and four assists as he tied Hurley's brother, Bobby, for second in career March Madness victories by a player with 18. A win Monday also would make him the first player since John Wooden’s dominant UCLA teams in the 1960s and 1970s to finish as a three-time champion.
Thanks in part to Karaban, the Huskies haven’t lost a tournament game played past the opening weekend since 2009, when they fell in the national semifinals to Michigan State. With one more victory, they would break a tie with North Carolina and move into third place alone in national titles, trailing only UCLA (11) and Kentucky (eight).
Freshman guard Keaton Wagler had 20 points and eight rebounds to lead the Fighting Illini (28-9), who reached their first Final Four since losing the championship game to UNC in 2005.
Wagler and Mullins became the first pair of freshmen to top 15 points in a Final Four game since Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing in 1982.
“It’s margins, they’re so small,” said Illinois' Brad Underwood, a 62-year-old coaching lifer who reached his first Final Four. “Getting here is really hard. Winning is really hard. It’s why I have so much appreciation for Alex Karaban. He’s been to three of them. That’s freaky. It’s a rebound, it’s a loose ball, it’s a ball rolling in, it’s a banked 3.”
Tomislav Ivisic had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Illini, who couldn’t replicate the blueprint that carried them to double-digit victories over Penn, VCU, Houston and Iowa. Illinois made just 3 of 14 3-pointers in the first half and finished 6 of 26 beyond the arc.
UConn took full advantage even though the Huskies had two long scoring droughts — nearly six minutes in the first half and more than six minutes in the second. The latter allowed Illinois to charge back from its biggest deficit of the season, 57-43 with 9:43 to play, to get within 57-53 with 5:03 remaining.
But the Huskies answered and closed it out at the free-throw line for their fifth straight win in the series. UConn beat Illinois 74-61 on Nov. 28 in Madison Square Garden, and now the Huskies have held the Illini to their two lowest scoring totals and shooting percentages of the season. UConn also beat Illinois 77-52 in the Elite Eight two years ago.
“We held them to 35 percent (shooting),” Underwood said. “They just made more 3s than we did.”
And finished with a little more punch.
“The year hasn’t been a joy ride,” Hurley said. “We haven’t been a machine of destruction. We’ve been a team that’s had to grind out games like this.”
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
UConn players celebrates their win after the second half of an NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game against Illinois at the Final Four, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
UConn forward Tarris Reed Jr., center, celebrates after the second half of an NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game against Illinois at the Final Four, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
UConn's Jayden Ross (23) and Illinois' Ben Humrichous (3) battle for the ball during the first half of an NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game at the Final Four, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
Members of UConn celebrate during the second half of an NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game against Illinois at the Final Four, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
UConn guard Braylon Mullins (24) rebounds against Illinois during the second half of an NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game at the Final Four, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
UConn guard Silas Demary Jr. celebrates after the second half of an NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game against Illinois at the Final Four, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
UConn's Braylon Mullins (24) and head coach Dan Hurley celebrate after defeating Illinois in an an NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game at the Final Four, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
