The 17-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., who became the centre of attention after her LPGA Tour win last weekend, remains at 1 over heading into Sunday’s final day of the US$2.25-million tournament.
Advertisement
It wasn’t until the fifth hole that she made hay and making the turn at two under and two off the lead had her perfectly placed to strike. “It is a good challenge”.
Henderson and her playing partner Sadena Parks, of Raleigh, N.C., were the first pair to tee off at 8:30 a.m. They still attracted a large gallery, most hoping to see the young, rising star in Canadian golf.
“I hit a lot of greens”, said Sharp.
“It’s a really solid start”, said the New Zealand golfer.
Beginning in one of the early morning groups, Ko had an up and down start to her round, but settled onto a string of birdies, including three in her final four holes, to finish five-under par for the day.
I dont know if its the golf course necessarily, but I just played better than Ive been playing lately, Lewis said.
Henderson rolled in an eight-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to shoot an even-par 72 in the third round of the CP Women’s Open at Vancouver Golf club in Coquitlam.
“I had a lot of good opportunities”, Sharp said. She successfully defended her title in 2013 as an amateur in Edmonton, Alberta. That left the two-time Canadian Open champion one stroke ahead Taiwan’s Candie Kung and two ahead of France’s Karine Icher. “The crowds were unbelievable, and just to be back home in Canada and playing in front of them was really cool”.
“It wasn’t a great day out there but I ground it out pretty well”, said the 17-year-old.
“Hopefully that will give me good momentum tomorrow”, Ko told reporters. The victor collects $337,500.
The 34-year-old Taiwanese player had an 11-under 133 total at Vancouver Golf Club.
“I just went out there, played one shot at a time, and I knew that I was putting pretty good”, the halfway leader Kung said. “It can get a little testy out there”.
Advertisement
Ko and Icher are a shot clear of China’s Xi Yu Lin who followed an opening 70 with a six-under 66 to lie on eight under, two clear of Spain’s Azahara Munoz and American Stacey Lewis. Its always nice to have some rounds like that where you dont have so much questions. “I had an easy birdie putt on 1 and unfortunately missed it and then went bogey-double and sort of fought my way back after that”. She added birdies on the fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth to tie the course record set by Nancy Scranton in her 1991 Du Maurier Classic victory, which was also matched by Chella Choi in 2012.
