Henderson copes with conditions, including a Trump visit
Women’s major gets a visit from American leader, writes Chris Stevenson.
As Brooke Henderson stalked a birdie putt on the 15th green at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in the second round of the U.S. Women’s Open on Friday, not many in the big gallery were looking at her.
The green on the par-5 hole is adjacent to the clubhouse and President Donald Trump had just arrived to watch some golf from a glassed-in viewing pavilion. There was a lot of commotion while Henderson and Americans Lexi Thompson and Stacy Lewis played the hole as the crowd turned to catch a glimpse of the president.
He obliged, coming over to the window at one point to deliver his now familiar routine of pointing at someone and giving a thumbs up as people cheered and shouted “Donald!” and pointed their phones and cameras at his vantage point.
“People, there’s still some golf being played here,” admonished one official.
Earlier in the round, the Henderson group was playing the ninth hole when the president’s motorcade arrived at the club, which has become the “Summer White House.” In addition to Bedminster’s treacherous greens and the sometimes driving rain, the commotion caused by Trump’s presence was yet another challenge for the players.
Henderson fared pretty well. She had a 1-under 71, which featured some spectacular par saves, giving her a 36-hole total of 3-under 141, tied for 10th place, five shots behind leader Shanshan Feng of China, who followed up a 66 with a 70 on Friday.
“I feel like I could have maybe got a little bit more out of today’s round than I did,” Henderson said. “Any time you are shooting under par in a major championship and putting … I’m a few shots back. Hopefully, I can make that up quickly over the next two days and put myself in contention on Sunday.”
Henderson, known for her power game, showed some remarkable deftness around the greens as she hit just eight greens on Friday and managed to shoot under par. She needed just 11 putts on the front nine and 25 on the day.
She made her first bogey of the tournament on the 13th hole when she missed the green right, pitched five feet behind the hole and missed high on the right side.
She made up for that by knocking in a 53-foot birdie putt on the next hole.
On the 15th, Trump took over the stage.
Not many fans were watching the golf which was the concern of American star Brittany Lincicome, who had said she hoped Trump would stay away because his presence would detract from the performance of some of the world’s best players
Thompson was asked if she noticed what was happening on the 15th and where the fans were looking.
“Yeah,” she said, “not towards the golf.”
Henderson said she was aware of Trump’s presence and that he was watching her group play 15 and tee off on the par-3 16th.
“We must be pretty famous,” she said with a laugh. “It’s amazing the U.S. president is here watching us play golf. It’s pretty incredible. I never thought that would happen. To be in my fifth U.S. Open and have it happen is really cool.”
Feng was playing in the group behind Henderson. She looked over at Trump’s viewing position after she putted out.
“I heard people kind of screaming, so that’s what I was trying to find out, like why they were screaming,” she said. “But I was still really focusing on my game. I didn’t really get distracted.”
Lewis said she was too into her round to play much attention to the Trump distraction.
“I did not even notice, to be honest,” she said. “The golf course is a little hard today. I was kind of lost in what we were doing out there.”
She did allow Trump’s presence — he’s the first president to attend a U.S. Women’s Open — might have brought the tournament some publicity.
“That was kind of what intrigued me to start the week was we had never had an active sitting president at one of our events,” she said. “So I was kind of excited about the prospect of, regardless of who it is, that he came here to watch us.
“He tweeted about coming to the U.S. Women’s Open. Some people didn’t know it was going on. It’s kind of a historic and cool moment to have our president here.”
The weather is supposed to better on the weekend, so that will remove one potential challenge for the players.
Nobody was saying what Trump’s plan is (he is staying at his residence on the property Friday and Saturday), so that remains a wild card for the weekend.