LDN - Sports

Henderson goes for three-peat in Portland

[August 31, 2017] By Steve Habel, The Sports Xchange

Brooke Henderson's win in the 2015 Cambia Portland Classic came before she was even a member of the LPGA Tour but was impressive enough for tour commissioner Mike Whan to promote the precocious, then-17-year-old Canadian to the full status.

Henderson has made good on the promise she showed in that tournament, winning four times on the LPGA Tour, including the KPMG Women's PGA Championship last year and this event two times in a row.

She is in fine form again and a crowd favorite as she goes for a three-peat beginning Thursday at Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland. But Henderson will have to outplay a stellar list of competitors that includes the top player in the world, South Korea's So Yeon Ryu, top-ranked American No. 2 Lexi Thompson and No. 6 In Gee Chun of South Korea, to get that done.

A field of 144 golfers will play for a total purse of $1.3 million, with $195,000 and 500 Race to the CME Globe points going to the player who emerges victorious after 72 holes of competition of the par-72, 6,476-yard course designed by A.V. Macan and opened in 1924.

Last year, Henderson joined Annika Sorenstam and Kathy Whitworth as the third player to win back-to-back titles at this event, finishing at 14 under par and defeating Stacy Lewis by four shots to successfully defend her title.

Henderson finished tied for 12th last week at the Canadian Pacific Women's Open in Ottawa and is working hard to keep her mind off a three-peat in Portland.

"The first year it just set up really well for me -- you know, tree-lined course, kind of tight," Henderson explained. "I had a really good feel for the right angles and where I could hit the ball on the greens, and I felt like my strategy was really good. I was able to play my best, probably the best I've ever played that week to win my first LPGA Tour event.

"Last year, I was kind of running off adrenaline and this year I'm trying to do a mixture of both."

Henderson, who will turn 20 on Sept. 10, looks to join Nancy Lopez as the only three-time winner of the Cambia Portland Classic. She has played in 21 of the 23 tournaments thus far in the LPGA season and has racked up 11 top-15 finishes, including a win at the Meijer LPGA Classic.

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Ryu makes just her third start in Portland, where she looks to join In-Kyung Kim as the only two players this season to win three times in 2017. She finished tied for third in her first appearance in Portland in 2014 and tied for 13th here in 2015.

Thompson also returns to action in Portland for the first time since 2014 and makes her first start since the Solheim Cup, where she helped lift Team USA to victory over Team Europe.

"My game is in a great spot," Thompson said. "I worked extremely hard in the offseason on improving on things like my short game, my chipping and putting, and that's showing. I just really wanted to play consistent golf and put myself in a position to win. I have done that a few times this year. Just trying to stay positive out on the golf course."

The Cambia Portland Classic is in its 46th year and is the longest running non-major on the LPGA Tour. The lowest round in tournament history was shot most recently by Austin Ernst in the third round in 2013. Henderson posted the lowest 72-hole score of 267 (21 under par) while winning in 2015.

This week marks the 24th tournament of what has been an exciting 2017 LPGA season, which has seen two first-time winners along with 19 different tournament champions.

Just 11 tournaments remain in the LPGA season, which ends with the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla., in November. Ryu holds a narrow lead in the current Race to the CME Globe standings with 2,652 points, followed by 2017 Kingsmill champion Thompson with 2,642 points and U.S. Women's Open and Canadian Pacific Women's Open champion Sung Hyun Park of South Korea with 2,563 points.

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