Golf: Canadian teen star Henderson grabs LPGA lead
 

LOS ANGELES: Defending champion and world number two Brooke Henderson fired a seven-under par 65 Thursday to seize a two-stroke lead after the first round of the LPGA Portland Classic.

The 18-year-old Canadian, who won last year´s event by eight strokes to become the third-youngest winner in tour history, made a solid start toward repeating as champion with nine birdies against two bogeys at the 6,476-yard Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland, Oregon.

Henderson sits two strokes in front of Angela Stanford, Demi Runas and Colombia´s Mariajo Uribe.

Henderson began her round on the back nine with a birdie at the par-5 10th, answered a bogey at the par-3 13th with a birdie on 14 and then closed that side of the course with consecutive birdies.

Henderson, who won her first major title three weeks ago at the Women´s PGA Championship by downing top-ranked Lydia Ko in a playoff, birdied the par-3 second hole but took a bogey at the fourth only to respond by reeling off four birdies in a row, two on par-5 holes and the last a 36-foot birdie putt on the par-3 eighth.

"I was able to make four birdies coming in right in a row to put myself in a good position," Henderson said, admitting she was bothered by the bogey at four.

"I came off a bogey and I knew I had two par-5s which were really gettable," she added. "I kind of put my focus on them and I was able to get them. Then a long birdie putt on eight that I´m very thankful for. Wasn´t really expecting it to go in, but I´m very happy."

Fond memories of her 2015 victory made the stroll around the course even happier.

"Just walking around I remember some of the shots I hit," she said. "Some of the pin placements are kind of similar, so trying to think back to what the putts did and how they broke."



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