Two Canadians in third-round hunt
North Carolina’s Pinehurst No. 2 was taking a toll on the leaderboard Friday and Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., was not immune but still managed to make the 36-hole cut.
Starting on the back nine Friday, she fired a three-over par 73 to go along with her opening round 71 to sit at four-over 144, tied for 14th position overall. Sue Kim of Langley, B.C., was the only other Canadian to make the cut, also with rounds of 71 and 73. The cut was 10-over.
Only two golfers were under-par after 36 holes. American Michelle Wie fired a pair of 68s to lead at fourunder 136 followed by fellow American Lexi Thompson who came in with 68 on Friday to sit at one-under par 139. First round leader Stacy Lewis finished the day at even par firing a three-over par 73 coming on the heels of a first-round 67.
In her second U.S. Open, Henderson faced adversity early on with a bogey on the 11th hole, but then reeled off a string of pars before confronting the difficult No. 18. That hole cost Henderson another stroke and she finished her first nine holes at three-over par 38. She then tallied another bogey on No. 1 to stand at four-over.
But on the 12th, she tallied her first birdie of the day and returned to three-over. Then she went birdie, bogey, par, bogey to sit at four-over after the 18 holes.
“I missed a couple fairways today, which isn’t good on this golf course. When I missed fairways, I bogeyed. It’s tough to get up-and-down out of there, but I also made some good up-and-downs around the greens, which really saved my round,” Henderson said.