By most measures, Brooke Henderson had a pretty good day at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
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New Zealand golfer Lydia Ko is in the hunt for her third successive major after an even par opening round at the LPGA Championship in Washington.
At 27 years old, Park will become the youngest LPGA player to qualify for the Hall of Fame and the first inductee since fellow South Korean Se Ri Pak in 2007.
Winning this season’s first major, the ANA Inspiration, put her in the position she’s in now, vying to join the select group of women with at least three sequential major victories.
Park’s injured left thumb, supported by tape the color of a robin’s egg, might have been less than 100 percent, but there was nothing wrong with her pride. She was two back of Henderson before her injured left thumb started to get exhausted on the back nine, with Park bogeying three of her final seven holes en route to a 1-over 72.
Henderson was at 3 under after making a birdie at the hard par-4 18th – her ninth hole of the day – which yielded just five birdies among the early players.
Teenager Brooke Henderson leads the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship by two strokes after a four-under-par 67 in the first round that included her first LPGA Tour hole in one.
Henderson aced the 13th hole, using a 7-iron from 155 yards. “I don’t think I was this nervous when I was going for a major championship”, said Park, who carried a thumb injury into the tournament.
“I followed her like a lot of people did a year ago, and week after week she had a chance to break records, but she didn’t really get the recognition”, said 10-time major victor Annika Sorenstam, whose fame transcended her sport during her heyday. She closed with a short birdie putt on the par-3 ninth to take a two-shot lead. 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”.
Christina Kim and In-Kyung Kim carded 69s to share second behind Henderson.
The seven-time major victor achieved the qualification requirements at the end of past year when she was awarded the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average of 69.41.
SAMMAMISH, Wash. – Inbee Park could finally crack a smile, even if she was five shots behind leader Brooke Henderson.
Aww, that’s sweet. Unfortunately, there isn’t video of the shot, but there is this footage of Henderson plucking her ball out of the hole.
She’s also taking a conservative approach with the narrow fairways and claustrophobic sight lines provided by Sahalee’s thousands of trees. “I’m very, very thankful I was able to play early today”, said Christina Kim, fourth last week in New Jersey after finishing second the previous week in MI.
It says if Park wins the Evian Championship, the achievement will then be called a “super career grand slam”.
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Interestingly her victory came in this part of the U.S., in OR previous year, so that may well spall an omen for her chances as the week goes on. Boasting two wins and six top-10 finishes this season, Ko easily has one of the best chances to win this week.
