Canucks near lead

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 6under 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 8under 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 warm, 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.

Pettersen, meanwhile, recently lost her yardage book for the course and had to write notes from scratch this week. She trusted her eye and it paid off with six birdies over one eight-hole stretch.

“We woke up this morning to perfect conditions,” she said. “You can fire at pins and get to par fives, which is fun. I think it’s the best way to set up a golf course and get low scores.”

The 6,613-yard track is still recovering from an unusually wet and cool spring in the area. Players were allowed to lift, clean and replace balls on closely mowed fairway areas.