Although Brooke Henderson hasn’t found the winner’s circle yet in 2017, she’s rounding into form at a good time of year, and leads by two heading into the weekend at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give after a second round 4-under-par 66.
Henderson rattled off four-straight birdies in the middle of her round to open up a four-shot lead; however, she ended with two-straight bogeys to drop back to the field.
The 19-year-old said No.17 is just a ‘tough hole’ and she didn’t get the result she had hoped, making bogey. She ended up trying to ‘chase’ a birdie on No.18 to get it back, and let emotion get into her psyche.
“Two bogeys to finish, but that just gives me a little more motivation going into tomorrow,” she said.”
Once again she averaged nearly 290 yards off the tee at the Blythefield Country Club in Grand Rapids, Michigan and hit 85 percent of her fairways. Her 12-under total through two rounds is also the 36-hole scoring record for the Meijer LPGA Classic.
“It's great to see my name up there (on the top of the leaderboard). It's been a little bit of a rough season so far, not getting the results that I've been looking for. But this week seems to be a turnaround week and hopefully I can just finish strong the next two days,” she said.
Carlota Ciganda shot the round of the day, a 7-under-par 64. She had a bogey-free Friday, and the 64 was her best result of 2017.
“I played really solid, I made really good putts,” said Ciganda. “I like the course. I feel comfortable. I played here last year and I’m excited for the weekend.”
Ciganda, a two-time LPGA Tour winner, is at 10-under for the tournament and currently tied for second with Lexi Thompson and Mi Jung Hur, who has three top-5 finishes on the season. Hur shot a 5-under-par 66 Friday – her second-straight 66 – and both are two shots back of Henderson’s lead.
Hur said she was frustrated with her round yesterday because although she was 5-under, she made four bogeys. She committed to being bogey-free Friday and she achieved that goal.
“I had four bogeys yesterday and I really frustrated myself,” she explained. “Today was bogey-free, so I love it.”
Hur pointed to her iron play for being her strength so far in 2017.
“My Greens in Regulation were a lot better than the last couple of years, which means I have a lot of chances to make a birdie, not par,” she explained. “It’s made me play better the last couple of years.”
Thompson made three bogeys Friday but still made six birdies in her 3-under-par 68. The eight-time LPGA Tour winner – who lost in a playoff last week to Ariya Jutanugarn – is continuing her strong play of late.
Moriya Jutanugarn – whose sister Ariya made headlines earlier in the week as she ascended to No.1 in the Rolex Rankings – is a shot further back at 9-under through two rounds after a 5-under-par 66 Friday.
“I’ve been playing solid,” said Jutanugarn, who sits fifth. “I rolled the ball good on the green. Everything seems to be good.”
Hyo Joo Kim, Jenny Shin, Emily Pedersen, and Shanshan Feng – a winner already this season – are all at 8-under par and tied for sixth.
Feng said she didn’t feel like she played as well as she did Thursday – she shot a 1-under-par 70 Friday – but still feels pretty good heading into the weekend.
“I would say today my iron shots weren’t as accurate as before, so I’ll work on it a little bit tomorrow morning, then maybe work on the speed a little bit on the greens,” said Feng of her approach to Saturday’s third round.
Rounding out the Top 10 are Cristie Kerr, Sung Hyun Park, Madelene Sagstrom and Stacy Lewis are all at 7-under and tied for 10th.
Lewis admitted she had a ‘frustrating’ day Friday, after grinding out a 7-under-par 64 Thursday she made one birdie and one bogey in round two.
“Just a little mad about the way kind of the second shots were going. But I drove it great, which is something positive to come out of the round. Just didn't really get a whole lot out of the round kind of from the second shot in. Kind of disappointed,” she said.
Defending champion Sei Young Kim made the cut on the number at 2-under.
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