Henderson ties Korda in desert
Brooke Henderson tied a Mission Hills record with a 30 on the front nine and did just enough the rest of the round Saturday for a sevenunder-par 65 and a share of the lead with Nelly Korda in the ANA Inspiration.
Henderson started the weekend six shots behind and wanted only to get as close to the lead as possible. Now she goes into the final round at Rancho Mirage with a second major championship in her sights.
Korda began with a twoshot lead and fell three shots back with a rough stretch on the front nine, particularly the sixth hole by hitting a five-wood through the fairway into the gnarly rough and not getting over the water, leading to double bogey.
She rallied with three birdies on the back nine, however, for a 71 that allowed her to join Henderson at 12under 204.
They have a two-shot lead over Lexi Thompson (69), Mirim Lee (71) and Katherine Kirk (67).
“Sort of an easy start, which was nice, and relaxed a little bit,” Henderson said. “Being moving day, I wanted to get a solid round out there and try to climb the leaderboard as much as possible. Still a lot of golf to be played, but nice to see my name up there.”
Elsewhere
Brian Stuard closed with a scrambling birdie for a sixunder 66 and a share of the Safeway Open lead with James Hahn and Cameron Percy. On a day when eight players held or shared the lead, Stuard, Hahn and Percy emerged in front at 16 under at Silverado Resort at Napa, Calif . ... Steve Stricker and Miguel Angel Jimenez shared the lead going into the final round of the over-50 Sanford International, with Fred Couples, Darren Clarke and Kevin Sutherland a shot behind after a low-scoring day at Sioux Falls, S.D.