Henderson fights through rough round at CP Women’s Open

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Her first hole, a bogey, early Friday morning. Brooke Henderson then carded a run of pars, but coming toward the turn, she made another bogey on her seventh hole to drop to even par. The cut for weekend play, at one or two over, loomed.

"Oh," Henderson thought to herself, "I really got to bear down here. You're getting pretty close."

Then a pair of bogeys, on her ninth and 10th holes. Two-over. "Uh-oh."

Henderson, 17, announced herself to Canada last Sunday with her first LPGA Tour win, in Portland, Ore., the third woman under 18, to have won a tournament and, to add a thumping punctuation, the eight-stroke victory was the biggest LPGA margin of victory in three years. It was the culmination of a wicked run of golf since spring.

Momentum in golf, however, can dissipate in an instant. Henderson's week has been a swirl, including official membership on the LPGA Tour, granted on Tuesday. Come Friday, the Canadian star of the Canadian Pacific Women's Open at the Vancouver Golf Club was not looking at the top of the leaderboard but instead aiming to skirt an ignominious exit.

After a couple birdies, and one more bogey, she stood on the tee of her final hole. One-over. Henderson needed a par, at worst. Hitting first, she launched a drive. "Good shot, Brooke," said a little girl, sitting on the shoulders of her father, as Henderson began the walk up the fairway, Henderson looking over, and smiling.

It wasn't easy: her iron, from the rough, landed about 10 yards from the hole, again in the rough. A careful chip put her in close, and the putt, no certainty, fell. The sizable crowd of several hundred applauded. Henderson walked off, relieved, "Oh my god," she said smiling to fellow Canadian Alena Sharp, tapping hands. Sharp, 34, had finished one group earlier at one-under, making the cut for the first time at the Canadian Women's Open for the first time since 2008.

Henderson, an instant star after her victory last Sunday, was a draw for the Open this year, the best Thursday-Friday crowds in six years, tournament organizers said.

"Unbelievable, really, for a Friday morning," said Henderson after her round, finished at lunch time. "To see that many people out there cheering me on is really cool. I really appreciate it."

As of late Friday, a few players still on the course, Henderson was tied for 58th and set to squeak into the weekend – her one-over on the edge of the projected cut of one-over.

With a few players still on course, Candie Kung of Taiwan, No. 48 in the world, finished her round at 11 under, two strokes ahead of Karine Icher of France, No. 61 in the world, and world No. 2 Lydia Ko, who made history here winning at age 15 three years ago.

The Canadian national women's championship has long waited for a Canadian to be in the thick of the chase – the last top five finish by a Canadian was in 2004, when Lorie Kane and Dawn Coe-Jones tied for fifth. Henderson's arrival, on a huge roll, seemed like a perfect gift, until it seemed like it would be brusquely yanked away.

Watching golfers in the late afternoon at the Vancouver Golf Club, in the stands at the 17th hole, tournament co-chair Paul Batchelor had his fingers crossed.

"There's so many people who want to come out on the weekend to see her," Batchelor said. He could tangibly feel the difference Henderson had made at the club, compared with when it was here three years ago. "The vibe today was incredible. This is what we dream of."

For Henderson, on her fourth day as a LPGA member, it was a new experience. The week had been packed busy with obligations, unlike ever before. "I've had a lot of attention, and I lot of things I've had to do," she said.

The trick, she said, was to be "playing awesome when all those people are watching."

The pressure – even if she had said earlier in the week she didn't feel undue stress, and relished the crowd – piled down on her on the especially difficult green on her 14th hole. She had managed her first birdie of the day on the previous hole, to get back to one-over. Here, she faced a long, downhill 30-footer. As her playing partners putted, struggling with the green, Henderson stared down her line, crouched, her hands on her thighs, her chin on the butt of her putter, the putter standing upright.

She looked at it at another angle. Her left hand massaged her chin. She tapped her putter. She adjusted her pants. She adjusted her golf visor.

The putt was careful. It came up short but reasonable to take a par. The par putt was a fraction off. Another bogey.

She exhaled walking to the next tee. Not frustrated. Under the gun. Golf is a capricious game. Then, on a 605-yard hole – dubbed "long hole" – Henderson hammered a drive: 275 yards, about 25 yards farther than her playing partners, including world No. 3 Stacy Lewis. Henderson finished with a birdie, back at one-under, where she would conclude her round.

"Sometimes you play for victory," said her caddy Bunk Lee, a long-time family friend. "Other times, you play for the cut."

While this wasn't the Women's PGA Championship or U.S. Women's Open, where in both she finished tied for fifth, Henderson delivered Friday when she was against the wall. "She's been good at doing that," Lee said. "One of the best in the world."

Perhaps an overstatement – but not when weighing her play since spring.

"It was a struggling day," Lee said, "but she managed it well, managed it like a professional and a member of the LPGA."