Henderson is hanging in there
Canadian is three shots behind the leaders at the Women’s Open
Brooke Henderson had some doubts about where she was going to be situated on the leaderboard through 36 holes at the AIG Women’s Open, but a blustery Scottish afternoon left her in the mix heading into the weekend.
Henderson shot a 3-under 69 Friday and is 4-under for the championship, three shots behind leaders Mina Harigae and Georgia Hall.
“Happy to be climbing up the leaderboard a little bit,” Henderson said from Carnoustie, “and hopefully I can go out over the weekend and continue to play smart and make some birdies.”
The native of Smiths Falls, Ont., had four birdies in a sixhole stretch in the front nine but couldn’t make up any more ground on the back nine, where she had eight pars and a bogey on the par-4 16th. Henderson was able to take advantage of the calmer morning conditions, hitting 16 of 18 greens. But she needed 32 putts, which stalled her move up the leaderboard.
Henderson assumed the firstround co-leader Nelly Korda, the world No. 1, was “probably going to go pretty low,” but that was not the case. Korda had three bogeys and shot a 1-over 73.
“Everyone keeps talking about how I’m playing so well, but I’m going to shoot bad scores. I’m human,” Korda said. “I’m going to continue working these next two days and see how it goes.”
The Women’s Open is the final major of the year on the LPGA Tour and it’s the one Henderson has struggled with the most in her career. Her best result came in 2018 when she finished tied for 11th. She hasn’t finished inside the top 40 otherwise.
The 23-year-old Henderson said links golf was largely unfamiliar to her when she was younger. The courses she grew up playing are tight and treelined — classic parkland and cottage-country layouts. Scotland is a long way from Smiths Falls, but Henderson said she has started to embrace the creativity needed to compete at the Women’s Open.
“This is definitely on my bucket list. (A win) would be really special,” she said.
“Over the last few years, I really enjoyed the challenge of (links golf ) and learning how to play different shots and I feel I’ll have to play really well this weekend but, hopefully, things go my way.”
Henderson will be grouped with Evian Championship winner Minjee Lee for the third round.
Hall, one of the co-leaders and the 2018 winner of the Women’s Open, said she has an advantage on links courses. Hall is from England and said the Women’s Open is her “favourite event” of the year, even with the unpredictable weather.
“I think it’s about time it got windy,” said Hall, who shot a 3-under 69 on Friday. “It’s proper links golf … That’s what people want to see and I think it makes golf much more interesting when there’s a lot of wind. So I’m quite excited to play in it.”
Harigae, who birdied four of her final seven holes Friday to get to 7 under, is making her 243rd start on the LPGA Tour and has not found the winner’s circle. Her best result at the Women’s Open came the year Hall won — she finished 28th in 2018 — but she has two top-five finishes in her past four tournaments this season.
The cut came at 1 over. Defending Women’s Open champion Sophia Popov, who was 3 over, wiped tears from her eyes on her final hole Friday. Laura Davies, who at 57 is the most accomplished English female professional golfer in history, made seven birdies Friday to make the cut by one. She has played every Women’s Open since 1980.