Brooke Henderson back in contention in Portland Classic in bid to end long victory drought

Winnipeg Free Press

19 hours ago

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two-time champion Brooke Henderson birdied all four par-5 holes for a 7-under 65 on Thursday in The Standard Portland Classic, leaving the slumping Canadian a stroke behind first-round leader Adela Cernousek.
Henderson won the first of her 13 LPGA Tour titles in 2015 by eight strokes at Columbia Edgewater at age 17, and successfully defended the following year. Now 27, she's winless since January 2023 and has dipped to 52nd in the world.
'I love coming back to this place,' Henderson said. 'I do have a lot of the great memories. A lot of good things happened to me here.'
She opened her morning round with four straight birdies, two on par 5s. On her second nine, she birdied the par-5 fifth and seventh and the par-4 ninth.
'It's really important to hit a bunch of fairways this week,' Henderson said. 'You want to be hitting it really straight. I think I only missed two fairways today, so that was good. Hopefully, hit them all tomorrow.'
Next week, Henderson will be back home in Canada for the CPKC Women's Open in Mississauga, Ontario. She won the national championship in 2018.
Cernousek shot a 65 in the final group of the day off the 10th tee. The 22-year-old Frenchwoman played her final nine holes in 7-under 29 — highlighted by an eagle on No. 7.
'I was hitting the ball very well,' Cernousek said.
Sung Hyun Park was a stroke back with Henderson, Jeongeun Lee5, Gurleen Kaur and Miranda Wang. Park had eight birdies and a bogey in her afternoon round on the tree-lined course. The 31-year-old South Korean player won the last of her seven tour titles in 2019.
'As of late, my ball-striking and putting are starting to feel quite comfortable and that's exactly what happened today,' Park said. 'I was able to make confident swings and also feel great about the strokes I made on the greens.'
Haeran Ryu two strokes back at 66 with Perrine Delacour, Arpichaya Yubol, Ashleigh Buhai and Linn Grant. Ryu, at No. 9 in the world, and No. 7 Angel Yin — who shot a 72 — are the only players from the top 10 in the world ranking in the field.
Amateur Kiara Romero had a 67. The University of Oregon star won the 2023 U.S. Girls' Junior and 2025 Big Ten title.
'Everything was rolling pretty smoothly,' Romero said. 'I was a little bit nervous on the first tee, but still played pretty good.'
Juli Inkster, the 65-year-old Hall of Famer who won the 1999 event, birdied three of the par 5s in a 69.
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'I actually thought I putted really well today,' Inkster said. 'Hit a lot of good irons and I drove the ball well. I was happy with that.'
She played alongside 2017 champion Stacy Lewis and 2019 winner Hannah Green, who each shot 73. Defending champion Moriya Jutanugarn also had a 73.
The tournament is the longest continuous event on the LPGA Tour except for the majors, dating to 1972.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf