Brooke Henderson and Katherine Kirk served up a match-play thriller in the first round of the Lorena Ochoa Match Play on Thursday, a battle royal finally ending on the 20th hole, the par-five second, where Henderson spectacularly drained a 45-foot eagle putt.
Australian Kirk had clawed her way back from 4-down at the turn after Henderson had made a strong start and it soon became clear that something special was needed to decide the outcome of their marathon encounter at Club Golf de Mexico.
"Brooke played solid all day," Kirk told LPGA.com. "She didn't really make any mistakes. It was a good match, and not much I could do when she makes an eagle on two from at least 45 feet! But she played well all day. She deserved it."
Canadian teenager Henderson, the third seed in the Lorena Ochoa bracket, birdied two of the first four holes and appeared to have the match firmly within her grasp after Kirk had three-putted to bogey both eight and nine.
However, Kirk immediately mounted her fightback with back-to-back birdies on 10 and 11 before picking up further shots at the 15th and 18th, where she sank a 14-footer for birdie, to get back to all square.
"I was feeling pretty good with that 4-up lead going to the back nine, and I played great on the back nine as well but she just made a lot of birdies," said Henderson. "I was hitting the ball really close on almost every single hole. It was definitely a fun match, very exciting, and to go two extra holes, I guess that’s what match play is all about."
For Henderson, the back nine represented a frustrating switch in momentum.
"At the turn, I felt like I had it with me and I just didn’t make some close shots, ... things just started to move away from me," the 19-year-old said. "I made a great up-and-down par on 12 to slow her momentum down a little bit, but she definitely had it going."
Henderson had a chance to seal the win on the 19th hole after Kirk pulled her tee shot left and failed to reach the green in two. However, the 31-year-old Australian sank a clutch nine-footer there for par to keep the match alive.
"I was scrambling my butt off," Kirk grinned.
Henderson, a three-time winner on the LPGA Tour who clinched her first major title at last year's KPMG Women's PGA Championship, will take on American Ryann O'Toole in the round of 32 on Friday.
"She is a great competitor, she has a lot of energy and adrenaline," Henderson said of O'Toole. "I think match play is her game so I just have to try and match her birdies and hopefully things will go well."
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