Henderson holds two-shot lead in LPGA event
The Sports Xchange
Brooke Henderson was disappointed with her finish Friday but not with the results.
The 19-year-old Canadian bogeyed the final two holes but still managed a 4-under-par 67 and a two-shot lead after two rounds of the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give at Blythefield Country Club in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Henderson was at 14-under through 16 holes in the second round, but two bogey 5s left her at 12-under 130 after 36 holes.
In a three-way tie for second at 132 were Carlota Ciganda of Spain, Mi Jung Hur of South Korea and Lexi Thompson. Ciganda posted the best score of the three with a 64, followed by Hur with a 66 and Thompson with a 68.
Henderson, who is pursuing her first win in 2017, was ahead by four shots after 16 holes. She got there with four straight birdies from Nos. 9 to 12 and another birdie at No. 15, her seventh birdie of the day. But three bogeys kept her from going lower.
“Two bogeys to finish, but that just gives me a little more motivation going into tomorrow,” she said.
The long-hitting Henderson has been accurate off the tee, hitting 85 percent of the fairways enroute to a tournament 36-hole scoring record.
“It’s been a little bit of a rough season so far, not getting the results that I’ve been looking for,” Henderson said. “But this week seems to be a turnaround week and hopefully I can just finish strong the next two days.”
Ciganda likes the course layout, having lost in a playoff to Sei Young Kim in 2016. The 27-year-old Ciganda reeled off five birdies and an eagle on No. 5 on the way to Friday’s 7-under round.
“I played really solid, I made really good putts,” Ciganda said. “I feel comfortable. I played here last year and I’m excited for the weekend.”
Hur was bogey-free in the second round and posted five birdies.
“I had four bogeys yesterday and I really frustrated myself,” she said.
Thompson was the one making bogeys — three in the second round, including two in a row on the front nine. She finished birdie-bogey-birdie.
Moriya Jutanugarn survived a double-bogey 6 on the par-4 15th hole to finish with a 66 that left her three shots out of the lead.
Hyo Joo Kim, Jenny Shin, Emily Pedersen and Shanshan Feng are tied for sixth a shot behind Jutanugarn.
Because of the threat of bad weather on Saturday, third-round tee times will be moved up to 10:14 a.m. ET.