VANCOUVER — Brooke Henderson had a quick turnaround from Thursday night into Friday morning. It was good, she said, to quickly forget about the opener at the CPKC Women’s Open and try to move herself up the board heading into the weekend.
After a four-under 67, the Canadian has no worries about making the cut anymore. Vancouver golf fans who were holding on to a weekend ticket can exhale. Instead, Henderson’s got a chance to notch a solid result over the next couple of days — something that’s escaped her for the most part this season.
“I needed a confidence boost after the last few weeks and after yesterday, so this feels good. Hopefully, just continue on and keep pushing,” Henderson said.
“Yesterday was not good, so coming out early this morning I just wanted to get off to a good start, and birdieing the 11th hole, my second hole of the day gave me the right momentum.”
Meghan Khang, who has three top-10 finishes at major championships this season but has never won on the LPGA Tour, holds the 36-hole lead at seven under. She leads by one over Linn Grant, a winner already this season, and by two over major champs Jin Young Ko and Yuka Saso.
Henderson was bogey-free on Friday. Only one golfer went without a blemish on their scorecard in the first round at the stout test that is Shaughnessy Golf and Country.
Henderson talked pre-tournament — and Thursday — about how ball-striking would be the key this week. It’s no surprise the second-round success stemmed from a much-improved day with the irons for the Canadian. She hit four more greens in regulation in the second round.
“It's definitely target golf and very much a ball-striker's course. So today my ball striking was on, and I feel like that's why I shot four-under,” Henderson said. “I feel like we changed our strategy a little bit few holes, sharpened up some lines.”
Henderson started on the back nine and birdied her second hole of the day, the par-five 11th. She held on until she made the turn, and then she chipped in for birdie on the par-five first from behind the green from a lie in thick rough. She added two more circles on the scorecard on Nos. 5 and 6.
“I felt good today. I felt like I could make birdies. Felt like I could get it back under par and kind of climb up the leaderboard a little bit,” Henderson said. “So today was fun. Sometimes when you're on the wrong side of momentum, wrong side of mojo like yesterday, when I'm grinding, not so fun.”
Henderson leaned into Red-and-White Day at Shaughnessy, rocking some bold red pants, a white top, and a red visor (her red shoes from last year, she told Sportsnet.ca, will likely come out Saturday), while acknowledging the robust Canadian crowd. Henderson’s the star of the week — as she is every week of the CPKC Women’s Open. She felt the pressure on Thursday, snap-hooking her opening tee shot into the left-side trees with a thousand people clamouring to catch a glimpse all wrapped around the first tee box.
The same kind of buzz carried over to Friday (Henderson was grouped with world No. 1 Lilia Vu and superstar Nelly Korda) but she said she could feel the fans helping to lift her up.
“The fan support was really clutch today, and I'm excited for the weekend,” Henderson said. “They were happy when I started making birdies. That was really nice. When I chipped in on one, that was a really loud cheer and that was a lot of positivity. It made me feel a lot better about my game and where I was at.”
Although Henderson won the first event of the year on the LPGA Tour, she has only notched one other top-10 finish on the season at the Amundi Evian Championship. She said with golf, it’s "95 per cent" mental, and she admitted that hasn’t been her sharpest asset this year.
“Mentally (golf is) just a grind… sometimes it seems really easy and other times you just really have to persevere,” Henderson said. “I'm proud that I was able to fight back today and get it back under par.”
The cut came at four over.
Alena Sharp, who shot a three-under 69 in the first round, struggled Friday with a four-over 76. However, she and Henderson will be the Canadian contingent on the weekend in Vancouver.
