Canadians contending after 1st round in Ontario
CAMBRIDGE, Ont. — Preferred lies and ideal conditions left Whistle Bear Golf Club in a prone position for Thursday’s opening round at the Manulife LPGA Classic. Canadians Alena Sharp and Brittany Marchand took full advantage.
Sharp eagled the par-5 12th hole en route to a 6-under 66 while Marchand opened with a 67. Both were within striking distance of Norway’s Suzann Pettersen and South Korea’s Mi Hyang Lee, who shared the lead at 8-under 64. “I knew I needed to shoot a low round,” Sharp said. “But you don’t really want to think about a score in your mind. The way I’m hitting it I knew I was going to have a lot of chances and I took advantage of the par fives. I was 5 under on those so that really helped me out.”
South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim, Belgium’s Gonzalez Escall and China’s Shanshan Feng were one shot off the lead at 65.
Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., had an uneven performance in the sunny conditions. She was visibly frustrated after missing a few short birdie putts around the turn and finished with a 71.
Henderson declined to speak with reporters after signing her scorecard. She eventually offered a few pithy post-round comments to an LPGA Tour official.
“I hit a lot of really great shots and the putts just didn’t drop today,” Henderson said. “But hopefully I can switch things around tomorrow and everything will be good.”
Jodi Ewart Shadoff of England and Emily Pedersen of Norway were tied with Sharp in sixth place at 66.
Joining Marchand at 67 were Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn, South Korea’s In Gee Chun and Americans Angel Yin, Lexi Thompson and Lee Lopez. Defending champion Caroline Masson of Germany opened with a 70.
There are 10 other Canadians entered in the US$1.7-million event. They include Augusta James (70) of Orangeville, Calgary’s Jennifer Ha (72), Grace St. Germain (72) of Penticton,, Maude-Aimee LeBlanc (74) of Sherbrooke, Que., Jaclyn Lee of Calgary (75), Charlottetown’s Lorie Kane (76), Jennifer Kirby (76) of Brantford, Ont., Vivian Tsui (76) of Markham, Ont., Maddie Szeryk (78) of London, Ont., and Samantha Richdale (79) of Kelowna.
4 share lead after 1st round at the St. Jude Classic
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Matt Every, Scott Brown, Stewart Cink and Sebastian Munoz each shot 6-under 64s on Thursday to share the lead after one round at the St. Jude Classic.
Charl Schwartzel and Matt Jones were each one stroke back at the final tuneup before the U.S. Open.
Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen and Chez Reavie each shot a 66 on the par-70 TPC Southwind course.
David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., fired a 70 to finish the day in a tie for 48th at par and Ottawa’s Brad Fritsch shot a 72 to go 2-over par.
DIVOTS: Billy Horschel used a fairway wood to putt on his final hole after he broke his putter a hole earlier. He had an up-and-down round and finished with a 72.