Henderson’s round cuts it — just barely
The gesture pretty much summed up Brooke Henderson’s first two days at the U.S. Women’s Open at CordeValle.
As her birdie putt from inside 10 feet eluded the cup on the par-5 15th hole, the 18-year-old from Smiths Falls covered her eyes with her left hand and stroked her brow.
After a promising birdie-birdie start in the second round Friday, Henderson played the last 16 holes in 1-over par and finished with a 1-under 71, leaving her at 3-over for the tournament and waiting to see if she would make the cut. She had a 4-over 76 in Thursday’s opening round.
As she walked off the 18th green, she saw a note at the bottom of the leaderboard: “Proj cut 3,” a message the cut was projected to be at 3-over.
“I was looking at the sign on 18 and if it’s true, then it looks like I’m playing the weekend,” she said. “I hope it is and hopefully, I have two more rounds of golf to kind of redeem myself.”
Turns out she gets to stay and play another two days. The cut line wound up at 4-over.
Sung Hyun Park capitalized on the favourable morning scoring conditions, shooting a 6-under par 66 Friday to take the early clubhouse lead after the second round.
Amy Yang shot a 71 and finished the second round two shots back. World No. 1 Lydia Ko bounced back from a 1-over par first round to shoot 66 and stands three shots behind.
Henderson’s track record on the weekend in this tournament is pretty good. In 2014 at Pinehurst, she went 72-69 and finished 10th. Last year in Lancaster, Pa., she was 68-66 and finished in a tie for fifth.
Playing in the tournament’s power group with Ko and No. 4 Lexi Thompson the first two days, Henderson never really got going like she can.
On Thursday, she missed some fairways. On Friday, she missed some putts. “I got off to an awesome start, 2-under through two holes and felt really confident. I had a lot of birdie opportunities on that front nine and was able to finish at 3-under which was really good,” she said. “Going onto the back nine, I wanted to get back to even at worst and try and get under par to get away from the cut line, but I had a couple of bad holes, a couple of bad putts.”
Henderson said her issue on the greens was reading too much into them.
“They seem to be really straight and I’m trying to play some break on them,” she said. “I’ll try and work a little bit on the practice green this afternoon and hopefully, read them a little better (Saturday).
“A lot of the putts today I felt like I hit it where I wanted to. Even (Thursday), I hit a lot of good putts and they just didn’t break. I was pretty disappointed in my putting and in my play in my later nine. That’s golf. Pick up, move on and hopefully be better tomorrow.”
Henderson said the adrenalin and demands of coming off a successful defence of her title at the Cambia Portland Classic and playing in the tournament’s marquee group were a bit of a distraction early in the week, but she felt back to normal by Wednesday night.
“Being No. 2 in the world, I kind of have to expect things like that. It’s something I have to deal with moving forward,” she said.
“Being in that group, being with the best in the world, coming off a win, I like to think I’m very humble and I’m very grounded and just kind of get back to playing my own game and not looking around as much.”
Meanwhile, Maude-Aimée Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., placed herself in a tie for 11th after a fine 3-under-par 69 on Friday that put her at 3-under for the tournament after her opening 72. Alena Sharp of Hamilton had an even par 72 on Friday to continue her run of solid play and was tied for 15th.
I was looking at the sign on 18 (with the projected cut) and if it’s true, then it looks like I’m playing the weekend.