Henderson goes for three-peat in Portland
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[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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