The Canadian leader birdied four holes in Round 3, but a double bogey at the par-3 13th kept her from producing a third straight round in the 60s.
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Henderson is attempting to become Portland’s first back-to-back champion since Annika Sorenstam won the 2002 and 2003 tournaments.
Two-time Portland champion Suzann Pettersen, playing with Henderson and Uribe, shot a 74 in which she hit just eight greens in regulation and made six bogeys to go with four birdies.
And it dawned on her that even though shes making her debut as a professional in the Portland Classic, shed been working toward this goal for a long time.
Going into the hole, Henderson had been at 14 under, and Uribe – who challenged Henderson all day – was at 12 under.
We saw Brooke Henderson earn her LPGA status in Portland last year and look forward to seeing if Mariah can match that feat this year, said Tom Maletis, president of Tournament Golf Foundation, which runs the event.
Pettersen took 24 putts, which she said “for me, that’s record breaking”.
Uribe fell two back with a bogey at 15 before her collapse on the last two holes while Henderson closed with five pars, escaping 17 with a par after finding the rough by sinking a 15-foot putt from the fringe. And she’s got a major championship – she won the Women’s PGA Championship two weeks ago by defeating top-ranked Lydia Ko in a playoff. Henderson, playing in the afternoon, caught Pettersen when she rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-4, 393-yard 18th. “I hit some really good shots and hit some really bad shots, but, like, it all worked out”. She needed only 26 putts. The bogey bothered me a little. Instead, she made a clutch par.
“The whole week I didn’t hit the ball great, and it I just couldn’t do it the last couple holes”, said Uribe, winless in six years on the LPGA Tour.
Brooke Henderson won last years Portland Classic by eight strokes after joining the field as a Monday qualifier.
“That’s unbelievable”, Henderson said. Sharp, a 35-year-old who has been on tour since Henderson was 7 and will likely play with Henderson in the Olympics, says Henderson has become an inspiration to her. “I knew I had two par-5s coming up, so I tried to focus on them”, Henderson said. Lewis is winless in 53 starts since taking the North Texas LPGA Shootout in June 2014 for her 11th tour victory.
“I feel positive going to the next week, and hopefully I’ll be in the same position soon”, she said.
A group sharing sixth on 281 included South African Lee-Anne Pace and Americans Lee Lopez, Christina Kim and Cheyenne Woods, the 25-year-old niece of Tiger Woods who achieved a career-best LPGA finish. American Morgan Pressel shot 71 to finish at 1 under.
Austin Ernst (73) and Mariajo Uribe (75) were tied for fourth at eight under.
Charlottetown’s Lorie Kane and A. J Eathorne of Penticton, B.C., both shot 70 and narrowly missed the cut at 2 over.
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As Henderson progresses in her career – which has seen her go from having no tour membership to reaching No. 2 in the world ranking – Sunday’s win could serve as a significant lesson that she does not have to be ideal to win.
