Brooke Henderson tumbles down the board with bogey-filled round at U.S. Women’s Open

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This article was published 04/06/2021 (1924 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brooke Henderson was just 18 years old when she won her first major championship. She’ll have to chase down another teenager if she wants to win another.

Henderson trails 19-year-old Yuka Saso of the Philippines by 10 shots heading into the weekend at the U.S. Women’s Open in San Francisco after the Canadian shot a 7-over 78 on Friday — her worst round to par on the LPGA Tour since an 8-over 79 five years ago in Malaysia.

Saso, who shot a 4-under 67 in the second round, heads into the weekend at 6-under. She leads past Open winner Jeongeun Lee6 by one. Americans Megan Khang and 17-year-old amateur Megha Ganne are another shot back.

Lee6, who won in 2019, birdied three of her final four holes and will be in the final group Saturday with Saso.

“I hit good shots from the rough today and holed a couple putts. I think that made my day good,” said Saso, who is playing just her third career major championship.

Saso, who birdied three of her final six holes, has a swing that has drawn many comparisons on social media to that of Rory McIlroy. It’s not a surprise, however, as she said she used to spend an hour a night watching swing videos of the former world No. 1 on YouTube before going to sleep.

“I like everything,” Saso said about McIlroy’s action.

For Henderson, it was tough to find anything to like in her second round. The Smiths Falls, Ont., native was 10 shots worse than Thursday, when she shot a 3-under 68. She declined to speak to media.

Henderson attacked Olympic Club’s difficult Lake Course and made six birdies in the opening round. But she looked unsure of her strategy Friday. She completed many swings with just one hand, and a disappointed look. The 10-time LPGA Tour winner hit just seven of 18 greens in regulation, seven of 14 fairways and needed 30 putts.

Despite her tough Friday, Henderson will make the cut. The other two Canadians finished too far back. Toronto’s Rebecca Lee-Bentham shot a 6-over 77 and was at 11-over for two rounds. Amateur Noémie Paré, of Victoriaville, Que., shot a 13-over 84 on Friday and finished 22-over in her first major championship.

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Ganne, the low amateur, was the story of the morning wave.

She finished at 4-under par after two rounds and held the lead through much of Friday afternoon. Ganne, who is the third-ranked amateur in the world, is looking to become only the second amateur in the championship’s history to win the big trophy. Catherine Lacoste, in 1967, was the only other non-professional to do it.

A high school junior from New Jersey, Ganne said she was much calmer Friday after starting the championship with lots of first-tee jitters. But, with a laugh, she added she had calculus homework to do Thursday night and it was harder than the golf she played in the second round.

“Hopefully my teacher gives me a little bit more time to do that,” Ganne said, “it’s hard to balance both.”

Adam Stanley is an Ottawa-based contributor to the Star’s Sports section and the host of golf podcast Next Round’s On Me. Follow him on Twitter: @adam_stanley