CALGARY — Brooke Henderson didn’t bring a sweater. Fellow Canadian Katie Cranston didn’t have pants. American Jennifer Kupcho woke up and saw ash falling outside her hotel window and said she thought they shouldn’t have even teed it up.
The previous three days at Earl Grey Golf Club have been hot — extremely hot. Thursday, however, featured a brisk wind that pushed the temperatures to the low teens and haze from the nearby wildfires hung on tight. You couldn’t have even thought about preparing for the opening round’s conditions — Brittany Henderson told Sportsnet that the forecasted wind was from the south, but it ended up being from the north all day — you just had to go grind it out.
Henderson shot an even-par 72 and heads into Friday just four shots back of the early lead at the CPKC Women’s Open held by Lauren Coughlin.
“It was interesting. Not really the hot start that I wanted to get off to, but felt like we fought pretty hard,” Henderson said of her opener.
Henderson’s first tee shot of the day ended up in the rough and she could only bunt her approach about 70 yards down the fairway leading to an opening bogey. She made 10 straight pars before notching her first birdie of the day on No. 4. She gave that right back with a bogey on the par-3 5th but then added another birdie on No. 6 to get back to even.
She hit only 11 of 18 greens and she wasn’t completely pleased with her first round, but she wasn’t necessarily upset either.
“(A score) was out there today. I just, like I said, didn't really get off to the start that I was looking for. But even par, didn't really give any away, which is good,” Henderson said. “I feel like I kind of learned a lot out there, and feel like I gained confidence, which is a great feeling.”
Coughlin is in the midst of her best-ever LPGA Tour season, with two top-10 finishes in her last four starts and two top-five results at major championships through 2024. The 31-year-old American has high hopes for making the Solheim Cup team with this year’s competition between Team USA and Europe happening in Virginia, about an hour from where she grew up.
She said Thursday was a continuation of her recent momentum.
“Pretty much ever since (the Amundi Evian Championship) I've been hitting the ball extremely well. To keep it going even in an off week felt really good,” Coughlin said. “It's just trying to be myself and have fun, and then see what I shoot.”
Coughlin’s 4-under effort from the early wave held up as the 18-hole lead at the end of the day. The last time the Thursday lead at the CPKC Women’s Open was this high was all the way back in 1997, when a trio of golfers shot 68 at Glen Abbey Golf Club.
Coughlin said she had a plan, and she stuck with it.
“The ball goes a lot further up here just because of the elevation, and then it was super hot earlier this week, and today it wasn’t hot at all. And the wind on top of all that. We were on the same page of how far we thought our ball was going, and we were getting it pretty good from the get-go, which helped a lot,” Coughlin said.
There are four golfers just a shot back of Coughlin, including past CPKC Women’s Open winner Ariya Jutanugarn, Kupcho, former world No. 1 Minjee Lee and two-time winner already this year Hannah Green.
“It kind of felt like some weekends at major championships,” Green said. “I feel exhausted already and it’s only round one.”
Among those within shouting distance of the lead are Canadians Maude-Aimee Leblanc and Savannah Grewal, a rookie on the LPGA Tour this year.
Leblanc and Grewal were the only Canadians in red figures Thursday.
Monet Chun tied Henderson at even par, while the rest of the 13 Canadians in the field this week at Earl Grey were over par.
While there was plenty of support for the Canadian contingent Thursday, the biggest crowd of the day belonged to Henderson, who is hoping to take advantage of better conditions Friday to make a climb up the board before the weekend.
“The crowd was amazing. So much support even early this morning,” Henderson said. “When I did make some birdies they were very loud and very energetic which I loved, so hopefully I can do more of that tomorrow.”
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.