Canada’s best major force

Henderson shares lead in pursuit of second Women’s PGA crown

KILDEER, ILL.— Canadian Brooke Henderson was tied for the lead midway through the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the third major of the LPGA season.

The 20-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont. — who won the event in a playoff in 2016 and finished second last year — carded a 1under 71 in the second round to move to 6-under 138 for the tournament for a share of the lead with Koreans So Yeon Ryu and Sung Hyun Park. Henderson birdied the 18th hole on Friday.

“It was kind of up and down all day,” said Henderson, who has six career titles. “I made some birdies, but I countered them with bogeys, so to finish off with a nice birdie putt on 18 gives me a lot of confidence going into tomorrow. I would have liked to have shot a little bit better today, but 1-under when it was so hot and so windy — I’ll take it.” Carlota Ciganda was one stroke back, with Lydia Ko, Moriya Jutanugarn and Annie Park at 4 under on a day when the temperature was around 90F. The scorching heat combined with a breeze helped dry out a course hit hard by rain this week.

Ko birdied the first hole and just kept rolling from there — all the way into contention for a third major victory. The 21year-old New Zealander shot 66 on Friday after an opening 74 at Kemper Lakes

“Straight out of the gate, I was able to make a birdie on the first and that gave me the confidence to say, ‘Hey, you can make a birdie around this golf course,’ ” said Ko, whose win in San Francisco in late April was her first in nearly two years.

Michelle Wie was at 1 over, while top-ranked Inbee Park missed the cut at 5-over 149.