Plenty Sharp: Canadian tied for LPGA lead
CAMBRIDGE, Ont. — When Canada’s Alena Sharp was faced with challenges Friday at the Manulife LPGA Classic, she responded in quick fashion.
A penalty stroke and double-bogey on the third hole? Answered with a birdie on the fourth.
A headache coming on at the 11th hole? A run of three straight birdies soon followed.
Sharp refused to buckle en route to a second straight 66 at Whistle Bear Golf Club, moving her into a first-place tie with American Lexi Thompson and Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea at 12-under. Three other players were one shot off the lead at the tournament’s midway point.
“This week has been different,” Sharp said. “I just walked up to the golf course yesterday and today just feeling like it was going to be a good day. Just had these good vibes coming out.”
The headache had gone away by the time Sharp signed her scorecard. Her third-hole misery didn’t last long either.
Sharp said her ball moved ever so slightly as she went to address a chip shot. While she didn’t feel she had grounded her club, she conferred with a rules official and took a one-shot penalty.
“I needed to call it on myself because I was going to be thinking about it all day,” Sharp said. “I thought I did the right thing. Went out and birdied the next hole and really just forgot about it. Just kept playing the way I was.”
Sharp, from Hamilton, capped her front nine with an eagle.
Perrine Delacour of France, American Lindy Duncan and South Korea’s In Gee Chun were tied in fourth place.
Canadians Brittany Marchand and Brooke Henderson were also in contention. Marchand shot a 70 to make her first career LPGA Tour cut. The Orangeville, Ont., product was five strokes off the lead at 7-under 137. Henderson, from Smiths Falls, Ont., was six shots back after a 67.