“I was in a good spot with my work, as I had done a lot of things I wanted to accomplish,” said Pond, who played a role in helping UVA’s Honor the Future fundraising campaign reach its $5 billion goal. “And we didn’t know at the time how much longer Lauren had left to play. So, if we were going to have these experiences and an international travel schedule, we had to do it now or we’d be sitting back one day being like, ‘God, if I would have just done it, how cool would that have been?’”
Betting on themselves has paid off in a big way. Coughlin, with more than $1.9 million in earnings this season, is seventh on the LPGA’s 2024 money list. At 31, she’s won twice in a year when the average age of a tournament champion is 25. And Pond, while continuing to support his wife, has become the full-time caddy of another LPGA player, Gina Kim.
“This place prepares you to go succeed when you go out on your own,” Pond said of UVA. “When I was in development, I saw that footprint when I would be sitting across from CEOs and hedge fund managers.
“So many of our alums have gone on to do such successful things in their lives, and we’re just kind of following their path and trying to make it. It’s worked out so far, and that’s really cool.”
As Coughlin’s unofficial publicist, Pond wants one last thing on the record about these wild last seven months in their lives: His wife should get all the credit.
“The story is she’s playing the best golf at a time when most players are on the downward trajectory of their careers,” he said. “And that doesn't happen overnight. That doesn’t happen without hard work. That doesn’t happen without being as mentally tough as she is.
“This hasn’t happened because of me hanging out and traveling along. You do that stuff on your own.”