The 18-year-old Canadian recorded a hole-in-one during the first round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on Thursday at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington.
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Henderson, 18, aced the 152-yard 13th hole with a 7-iron, which was her fourth hole of the day after beginning on No. 10. She now leads by one ahead of Ashleigh Simon who went off in the afternoon and is now three-under par through eight holes.
Christina Kim and In-Kyung Kim each shot two-under par 69s and are tied for second, two shots back. She celebrated with family, Hall of Famers, fellow player and tour officials as she walked off the green.
Henderson won a 2016 Kia K900 for the ace and said she would donate the vehicle to her older sister, Brittany, who caddied for her Thursday.
With Park’s thumb injury potentially taking her out of contention, the bulk of the attention will fall to No. 1 ranked Lydia Ko and Thailand’s rising star Ariya Jutanugarn, the victor of her past three tournaments. She closed with a short birdie putt on the par-3 ninth to take a two-shot lead. More likely, though, it’s because if Park completes her round, she will have met the final criterion for induction into the LPGA Hall of Fame.
Some of the game’s biggest names shot over par on day one including So Yeon Ryu and defending champion Inbee Park. The 20-year-old is the first Thai player to win on the LPGA Tour and has recently moved up to the No. 2 spot in earnings and No. 10 in the world rankings.
Park ended up winning twice in 2012 en route to capturing her first money title, and reeled off six victories in 2013, three in 2014 and five more in 2015.
“It really helped out a lot and gave me momentum for the rest of the day”, said Henderson, who won a auto that she gave to sister and caddie Brittany.
“Making the turn I was a little shaky”, Henderson said. “I hit a couple of bad drives. But I was able to scramble, get up-and-down a couple of times that really saved my round and then finished really strong”. In the last few years, having the consistent finishes that I’ve had and the wins, that’s helped my overall attitude and hopefully I can continue that.”Thompson, one of 63 Americans in the field of 156, will tee off at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in one of the tournament’s showcase threesomes”.
In many ways, the 72 doesn’t matter all that much – although Park was pleased with the way she battled through some tough stretches of holes, particularly on the back nine. Ko had a pair of birdies to go with two bogeys in an even round of 71.
Despite it being so hard, Kim said, “I can’t rave about this place enough”.
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Ariya Jutanugarn, the victor of her last three starts, was tied for fourth at 70. “I just came this week to have a good time and enjoy it and play good golf”. Even if you hit it on the side of the fairways you can get blocked by the side trees, so it’s very important to place your ball in the right area.”There aren’t too many golf courses that are this long and this tight”, she added. She expects a “deserving” champion to be crowned on the weekend.
