Read a transcript of the post-Round 3 interview with Andrew Novak and Lauren Coughlin.
Read a transcript of the post-Round 3 interview with Andrew Novak and Lauren Coughlin.
MODERATOR: We would like to welcome the champions of the 2025 Grant Thornton Invitational, Lauren Coughlin and Andrew Novak.
Congrats to you both. Can we just open it up with what it was like going down the stretch and getting this win today?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, I think again 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. Andrew putted really great today, made a lot of birdies for us. So yeah, it was a lot of fun.
ANDREW NOVAK: Yeah, I had some pressure taken off of me I think coming down the stretch. Lauren’s probably the single most reliable golfer I’ve ever played with. I knew no matter what I was going to be hitting from the fairway. So I had a little rough patch off the tee in the middle, but kind of got it squared away on the back nine. Yeah, we were able to ring off some birdies.
Q. Yesterday you called this the modern grand slam of team events. How much of that were you thinking about heading into the final round?
ANDREW NOVAK: A little bit. I mean, it was definitely a joke but it is kind of funny looking back. I won Zurich, I won the Pebble Beach, the proam section with my teammate in that as well. Look, any win is good, I’ll take that. I wasn’t thinking about it too much out there, I had birdies to go make, but it is pretty cool and it’s a nice cap to a good season.
Q. What was the favorite moment on the golf course this week and what was the favorite moment off the golf course this week?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: I think probably holing out from the bunker yesterday for me was probably my highlight.
Off the course, I mean, it’s just fun being here. Everything off the course, getting to hang out with Andrew, his caddie Jeff, my caddie Greg, it was a lot of fun.
ANDREW NOVAK: On the course I think the highlight of the week was the bunker holeout for sure. That was really nice to just turn to the side and hand my caddie the putter and not have to worry about that hole anymore.
Off the course, just having my family here. My wife is here, our baby, our first time traveling with her to a tournament. We didn’t really know how it was going to go. She slept through the night basically every night. I wasn’t really waking up, it was amazing. Yeah, it really went better than we could have expected.
Q. Can you each just speak to the significance of this event and the significance of the partnership between the LPGA and PGA TOURs and growing the game as a whole?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: 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. It’s just super fun getting to meet some of the guys that I probably wouldn’t have gotten to meet. It’s really, really cool.
ANDREW NOVAK: Yeah, I didn’t really know many of the girls at all. I hadn’t met hardly any of them before this week. It was cool to get to meet them, see their games, watch them play, watch them work. Obviously coming away very, very impressed with how good they are.
But yeah, it’s something that otherwise I haven’t really been able to do. They’re playing their schedule, we’re playing our schedule, we don’t get to see them much.
Q. I know the PGA TOUR’s been on a little bit of a break, but with the LPGA just kind of wrapping up, what does this do to propel you guys into an offseason and then looking ahead to ’26?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Yeah, I stayed kind of in playing shape for a few more weeks than I probably would have otherwise, but it’s kind of nice to know that I can kind of get my game back in a couple weeks off to get ready for this week.
But I’m really excited to kind of take some time off for the holidays and stay home as much as possible.
ANDREW NOVAK: Yeah, my schedule was a little funky with ending at East Lake, and then with my wife having the baby, I basically ended up taking two and a half months off. I was working on my game a good bit during that time, but it was going to be a long stretch of golf before starting next season. So it was really nice to have RSM, Hero and this as kind of a little three week see where my game’s at, try to figure out what else I might need to work on for this last month before I start the 2026 season.
Q. What are the plans to celebrate? I’m sure there’s going to be a pretty good celebration tonight?
LAUREN COUGHLIN: We haven’t really discussed it yet, but I’m sure there will be something.
ANDREW NOVAK: Yeah, I don’t know.
Q. They were eyeing the beers in the cooler before we started.
ANDREW NOVAK: I thought those were Pepsis.
LAUREN COUGHLIN: Well, there are Pepsis, but there’s Mich Ultra, too.
MODERATOR: Congratulations to you both. Thank you for the time.
