Henderson riding the momentum
Brooke Henderson is riding high on the most emotional victory of her young career.
And she’s kept those good vibes going this week in Portland.
The 20-year-old – who has won the Cambia Portland Classic twice before – shot an 8-under-par 64 Thursday and is just two shots back of the lead held by Marina Alex.
Henderson made three straight birdies on her front nine, and added birdies on five of her final six holes to shoot 64.
The Canadian said she saw the low scores that were posted in the morning and readjusted her approach to the day.
“I felt like the pins were in places where you could attack, but you also had to play smart,” said Henderson. “I felt like I did a good job of hitting to the wide parts of the greens and giving myself good birdie looks.”
Henderson, who was a repeat winner in 2015 and 2016 in Portland and won the CP Women’s Open last week in Regina, Saskatchewan – becoming the first Canadian to win on her home soil since 1973 – said she was “really happy” with her round Thursday. She’ll tee off early Friday to try to keep the momentum going.
“Hopefully I can do something similar tomorrow and look forward to the weekend,” said Henderson. “Overall it's just such an amazing feeling to be back here and just looking forward to the next two days.”
Lee looking for second win of the year
On the heels of a tie for fourth at last week’s CP Women’s Open – her tenth top-10 result of the year – Minjee Lee is back to her low-scoring ways.
Lee fired an 8-under-par 64 at the Cambia Portland Classic to sit two shots back of the lead held by Marina Alex.
It was Lee’s lowest round of the season, and she started hot out of the gates – making five birdies in a row on No’s 10-14.
“I had a really fast start,” said Lee. “Nice start on the back nine. I was really hitting it close.”
Lee said it was a “combination of everything” on Thursday that contributed to her round. She said her ball striking was particularly on and had “good control” of her yardages. She took only 26 putts and hit 13/14 fairways plus 16/18 greens.
Lee captured the LPGA Volvik Championship in May and said her season has been “pretty consistent.”
“It's been a good season and hopefully I can finish strong,” she said.
Lee won twice in 2016 before going on a bit of a winless draught before May of this year.
Hall embracing major challengers
Georgia Hall took a little time away from golf after her emotional Women’s British Open victory, but she’s been back in fine form the last two weeks.
Despite battling a steady cold at the CP Women’s Open, Hall finished tied for 28th. She fired a 6-under-par 66 Thursday at the Cambia Portland Classic and sits tied for fifth going into Friday.
She was paired with fellow major winners Pernilla Lindeberg (who won the ANA Inspiration earlier this year) and In Gee Chun, and said that was part of the reason why she played as well as she did Thursday.
“It was amazing,” said Hall. “They are really nice people, first off, and amazing players. We had really a lot of fun out there and I had a great group. That's always nice.”
Rookie Ree rocks it Thursday
Robynn Ree was threatening golf’s magic number for her first nine holes, but ended up in her best-career position after the first round.
Ree fired a 6-under-par 30 on her first nine holes – including five birdies in a row from hole No’s 2-6 – and birdied No. 10 to go 7-under for her first 10 holes. She bogeyed No’s 11 and 18 and finished with a 7-under-par 65, which was her best round of the year.
Ree said she changed her putter right before the round. Clearly the change paid off.
“I was like, ‘maybe I'll get the new putter vibes.’ And luckily that worked out today and my shots were so much better than they were in the past,” she said. “I was really fortunate that I was hitting well and putting well.”
Ree relied on her caddie to keep her busy and distracted as she was going low early in the day.
“The first couple dropped and I was like, ‘maybe I'm on a roll.’ But the next few dropped, and I'm like, ‘OK, maybe today is going to be a good day.’ And I told my caddie, ‘just keep me busy today,’” she said. “When things are this fast paced for me, I'm not usually like the best, so I asked him to just keep talking to me. And fortunately we just continued to keep going.”
Ree’s 65 has her alone in fourth place.
Ree’s best finish of 2018 is a tie for 33rd at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
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