Henderson has leaders in sight

CANADIAN PHENOM FIRES 2-UNDER 70 IN FIRST ROUND OF U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN

There’s enough stress through the week of a major golf championship, especially at the biggest, the U.S. Women’s Open, that golfers don’t need to create more for themselves.

There’s only so many times the nerves and the synapses and the fast-twitch muscles and the slowtwitch muscles can be called upon to get the job done over sliding, five-foot putts for par.

Pars are good at a major and tap-in pars are great.

Brooke Henderson had her share of tap-ins on her way to a bogey-free opening round of 2-under-par 70 Thursday at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster. That was good enough to keep her within four shots of the lead established by the charming Shanshan Feng of China. Amy Yang had a 67 and Lydia Ko and So Yeon Ryu were at 68.

American Cristie Kerr was part of a group of five players at 69 as the afternoon draw headed onto the course. A two-hour rain delay hampered the proceedings with Gaby Lopez sitting at 5 under through 11 holes.

Amateur Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont., carded an even-par 72, while Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., was among those held up by the rain delay. She was at 2 over through 14 holes.

“To shoot 2 under in the first round of a major championship, that’s great,” Henderson said. “I can’t complain at all. I know there are some low (scores) out there like minus 6 and usually I feel like the USGA gives us an opportunity to score on Thursday as long as you hit it in the right places and it will get tougher as the week goes on. If I can shoot 2 under every day, I’d be extremely happy.”

The heat and humidity were already building at the course that Donald Trump built when Henderson teed off at 7:07 a.m. from the 10th tee in a marquee group with Americans Lexi Thompson and Stacy Lewis.

Henderson had a bit of trouble on the first two holes of the day. Her approach spun back on the apron on the 10th as the greens started out unusually soft and she made a nice up and down from there. On 11, she drove into the rough, which is punishing this week, gouged it out left of the green and made a 12-footer for par.

She birdied the par-5 18th and par-5 first hole for back-to-back birdies from three and 20 feet respectively. She hit 16 greens on the day, playing conservatively away from precarious pin placements and made a bunch of tap-in pars set up by some solid lag putting.

That’s something that also helped her to a second-place finish in defence of her KPMG Women’s PGA Championship a couple of weeks ago at Olympia Fields Country Club.

“That’s extremely important,” she said of her good lag putting. “That’s something that I’ve been working on really hard over the last few years. To see it pay off at KPMG. I had long putts and I was able to tap them in. It takes a lot of stress off when you know you can just tap them in. I did a lot of that today, which was great, especially on those downhills where they get really fast. It’s nice not to have a big comebacker.

“I’ll go work on that again this afternoon and hopefully it be the same over the weekend.”

Henderson’s best putt of the day was that one for birdie on the first hole. She was just in front of the green of the 541-yard par-5 in two and then hit a mediocre chip shot that ran by the hole and up the hill, leaving her a treacherous attempt for birdie.

“I definitely would have liked to have a shorter birdie opportunity with such a short chip shot, but to make the birdie there, it really got my round going and gave me a lot of confidence through a lot of tough holes on my back nine,” she said. “I feel like that putt, I actually hit it too hard, but it hit the hole and went in. Two birdies back to back and not bogeys today, which is great.”

The temperature climbed to 33 C as Henderson’s group approached the end of their five hour 20 minute round.

Henderson’s group can expect cooler temperatures when they tee off at 12:52 p.m. Friday with a high of 25 C, but there is a 40 per cent chance of precipitation. Rain is expected late in the day. Combined with winds that are expected to remain light, the moisture could keep the greens soft and maintain good scoring conditions.

That might not be the best for Henderson, who has shown she has an advantage when the conditions get tough.

SETH WENIG / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Canada’s Brooke Henderson said she “can’t complain at all” after opening up the tournament four shots back of leader Shanshan Feng Thursday during the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open in Bedminster, N.J.