OTTAWA, Ont. – On a day when Brooke Henderson thrilled the hometown crowds, it was an LPGA Tour rookie and former major champion who sat atop the leaderboard heading into Sunday’s finale at the CP Women’s Open.
Henderson got things started in a big way early Saturday, birdieing three of her first six holes. She was bogey-free during the third round, and ended up shooting an 8-under-par 63, which beat the previous course record of 64, set by Yani Tseng in 2008.
“Having the cut out of the way kind of gave me a little bit of a scare yesterday, being so close and almost not even playing the weekend. So I knew I had to get going. Today is moving day (and) I moved, that's for sure,” said Henderson with a laugh.
Henderson sits three shots back of Nicole Broch Larsen, who is in the midst of her rookie season on the LPGA Tour but has won on the Ladies European Tour before and was the LET Player of the Year in 2015, and Mo Martin, whose last – and to date, only – LPGA Tour win came at the 2014 RICOH Women’s British Open.
“The first two days I had eight bogeys together, but 15 birdies. Today I had one bogey and six birdies. So today was just kind of a little bit more solid. Still a lot of good birdie opportunities and luckily less bogeys,” Broch Larsen said. “I'm playing really solid.”
Martin fired a 4-under-par 68 Saturday to move into a tie for the lead with Broch Larsen, and she said she’s been riding a nice wave of momentum these last three days.
“It’s just good to have things come together. I know I've been playing well. So I'm going to ride this and continue to have a good plan and execute,” she explained.
In Gee Chun, who has four runner-up results on the 2017 season but no wins is alone in third and just one shot back at 9-under. She managed to rebound from a double-bogey on the par-4 16th with back-to-back birdies on No’s 17 and 18.
Mirim Lee and Solheim Cupper Cristie Kerr sit a shot further back at 8-under. Kerr was 4-under through 14 holes before recording back-to-back bogeys on No’s 15 and 16. She bounced back with a birdie on her final hole of the day, but said if she manages to hit her stride on Sunday she’ll be ‘a force.’
“I just got a little loose out there. I hit a couple bad shots coming in. I was right there, but I made a couple bogeys. It's good to get a birdie at the last,” said Kerr. “If you hit it good on this course and get a lot of birdie tries, the greens are good enough to make some putts.”
Other than Henderson, six other golfers sit at 7-under heading into Sunday, including Mi Jung Hur, Shanshan Feng, Stacy Lewis – who had to hit a shot with both feet in the water on the par-4 14th (she’d punch out from the rough next to the hazard and eventually make bogey) – So Yeon Ryu, and Marina Alex.
But all eyes were on Henderson on Saturday, who was relishing the large galleries.
“I love big crowds, I love when I'm playing well, and I can kind of ride with them and have their support with me. So going into tomorrow, I'm going to do everything I do, just like every other week on the LPGA Tour, and just hopefully things go my way,” she said.
Henderson’s playing partner on the day, Brittany Altomare, finished at 2-under par, despite the whirlwind day she had paired with the golfer everyone came to see.
“This is the biggest crowd I've ever played in front of, and I just think it's a really good experience. I had a lot of fun,” said Altomare, who sheepishly admitted she was more nervous for the post-round media attention than the round of golf itself.
“I think I was ready for it. I saw Brooke play in her Pro-Am on Wednesday, and there was a big crowd. So I mean, it's Saturday, so I just expected a pretty big crowd today… but not as big as this.”
Brittany Marchand is the only other Canadian to have made the cut, and she shot a 1-over-par 72 on Saturday. She sits at 1-under par for the championship.
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