Henderson in the hunt for another Portland title

In Gee Chun shot a 6-under 66 on Thursday in the Cambia Portland Classic to take a one-stroke lead over two-time defending champion Brooke Henderson and five others.

Playing the event for the first time, the sixth-ranked Chun had seven birdies and a bogey at treelined Columbia Edgewater.

The South Korean player tied for third last week in the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open and has four runner-up finishes this season. Both of her LPGA Tour victories have come in majors — the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open and the 2016 Evian Championship.

Henderson, of Smiths Falls, Ont., had six birdies and a bogey to match Cheyenne Woods, Cindy LaCrosse, Moriya Jutanugarn, Nicole Broch Larsen and Nasa Hataoka at 67.

“I think it just suits my eye,” Henderson said. “I love tree-lined courses and I love when it’s so green everywhere you look. The grass is very lush, and I love that.

“Just playing here, I have so many incredible memories from two years ago, last year, and I just try to feed of the energy and adrenalin that I felt over the past couple years.”

After bogeying the par-4 eighth, the 19-year-old Canadian got upand-down from a fairway bunker on the par-4 ninth, hitting a seveniron from 157 yards to inches for a closing birdie.

“That bunker shot in the fairway on No. 9 really saved my whole round,” Henderson said. “I would’ve liked to finish a little bit lower today. I was 4 under through the front nine and things were going really well. I tried to make a few more birdies on the back, but they just didn’t fall.”

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp is 3 under after a 69, while Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., fired a 70. Calgary’s Jennifer Ha is 3 over and Augusta James of Bath, Ont., is 7 over.