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SCOREBOARD

Henderson improves, Kane waves goodbye at CP Women's Open

Brooke Henderson Brooke Henderson - The Canadian Press
Published

Brooke Henderson was better on Friday than her opening round at the CP Women’s Open, but whether it was good enough is still a question to be answered.

Henderson improved by one shot from Thursday, playing through some early rain and sitting out a two-hour delay en route to a 68.

“I feel like I’m hitting the ball really well, so I’m excited for the weekend,” said Henderson. “Giving myself a lot of good birdie looks, so if the putter stays hot, hopefully I can make a charge tomorrow like I did in 2017.”

That year, the last time the tournament was held at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club, Henderson scorched the course on Saturday for a then-course record 63 and put herself in contention before eventually slipping to a tie for 12th.

She’ll need some more of that magic for a chance this time. Her second round was highlighted by five birdies against a pair of bogeys. For the most part, she hit the ball well, missing just one green in regulation. Her putter was also better as she made several key putts during the day. None of those was as clutch as the 18-footer she rolled in on the seventh hole for bogey.

That came after she sailed her tee shot into a menacing fairway bunker and got aggressive and tried to extract the ball with a hybrid with her second shot. The ball hit the lip and forced her to chip out sideways leaving her with a mid-iron approach to the green.

“To kind of scramble for bogey from there was huge,” Henderson said. “It felt like a birdie or even an eagle to keep the day going.”

The 24-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., bounced back with birdies on the ninth, 11th and 13th holes, but ended her round with a three-putt bogey, the second time this week she’s concluded her day with an over-par hole.

When asked after her round if she still had a chance to win the tournament, Henderson remained optimistic.

“Not in the position I wanted to be in, but I’m playing the weekend and I have amazing crowds and amazing fans out here cheering me on, so I feel like if I can make a couple of birdies early, maybe I can ride some momentum and make a ton tomorrow.

“That’s kind of the goal, is just to climb the leaderboard as much as possible.”

If she were to win, Henderson would be doing it in a new way. In her 12 career victories she’s been leading or tied for the lead after 36 holes in seven of them and has never been farther back than ninth place.

Once again, Henderson was buoyed by a large gallery, which didn’t seem to mind the wet conditions. As a bonus, television viewers also got to see Henderson’s entire round after not being able to watch a single shot on Thursday. A last-minute deal between Golf Canada, Golf Channel, the LPGA Tour and TSN that was negotiated during the rain delay, extended the broadcast window on TSN to allow for all 68 of Henderson’s swings to be shown.

The broadcast also captured the final hole of Lorie Kane, who was playing her 30th and final CP Women’s Open. As she walked to the green, there was a standing ovation from fans, officials and fellow players that left Kane in tears as she waved her appreciation and tapped her heart to indicate she was sending them love right back.

“I thought I held it together until I got to probably about the 150-yard marker,” stated Kane. “I wanted to finish -- I'm glad I'm here, like I said. My golf was terrible but today I think meant more about just doing what I needed to do to finish something that I wanted to finish.”

While Kane and Henderson grabbed much of the spotlight, the low Canadian on the leaderboard was Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont., who fired a 68 on Friday to sit at 7 under for the tournament.

Szeryk, a rookie on the LPGA Tour this year, missed just one fairway and one green in her second round and has now gone 36 holes without making a bogey.