THE WOODLANDS, Texas — When Brooke Henderson missed the green at the 6th hole Saturday morning, she was seven back of the leaders who had just teed off.
The Canadian was two under for the week at the Chevron Championship, but she felt she was hitting it better than her score indicated.
“I just wasn’t really capitalizing on some of the opportunities,” she said.
Once she saved par at the sixth, she started to capitalize on those opportunities. In fact, she capitalized on just about every one she gave herself over the next nine holes.
Starting on No. 6, Henderson one-putted 10 straight holes Saturday, rocketing up the leaderboard, briefly into the outright lead at 11 under before a bogey on 16 ended her streak.
When play was suspended due to inclement weather shortly before 3 p.m. CT, Henderson was through 17 and tied for second, one behind Atthaya Thitikul, who is through 12.
“Honestly, I think it was on 6 like when I made that par save,” Henderson said. “It really kept my round alive, and then from there I was able to get things going. It was really fun to kind of get on a bit of a run. I feel like this year I’ve just played pretty solid, but I haven’t really seen that run and kind of had that excitement. That was really fun for me today, and hopefully just do something similar tomorrow.”
Henderson will have the par-5 18th left to play when the third round resumes at 7 a.m. CT Sunday morning. A birdie would give the Canadian a 63, not only her lowest career round in a major, but the lowest round at the Chevron Championship since it moved to Carlton Woods last year by two strokes.
She teed off eight groups ahead of Thitikul and Korda in the final threesome and looked poised to grab the clubhouse lead before the thunderstorms rolled in. After her par save at 6, she birdied 7 and then drainned an eagle putt from long range at the par-5 8th.
Henderson made three more birdies in a row and added two more at 13 and 14 before her one-putt streak ended with a four-foot miss at 16. During the streak, she missed just three greens in regulation.
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She said afterward she wasn’t totally aware of where she was compared to the leaders since there were few leaderboards on the front nine.
“I was trying to, one shot at a time, stay in the present moment, but at the same time push and try to be a little bit better,” Henderson said. “There weren’t that many leaderboards, so every time there was a leaderboard I was trying to look, but I was a little bit blind out there for a little while.”
The same was true for Korda and Thitikul who were in the final group with rookie Jin Hee Im. Both were three under for the day when play was called, with Thitikul maintaining the one-stroke advantage over the World No. 1 she shared with Im to begin the day.
Korda will have a putt for par at No. 12 to stay tied with Henderson when play resumes Sunday. She said she was aware Henderson was making a move.
“I did see on 9 she was probably 11-under total through like 15 holes or whatever. But obviously, it’s moving day, so you’re kind of expecting girls to shoot up the leaderboard with the cut being on your mind,” Korda, who can win Sunday to become the first player since 2005 to win five starts in a row on the LPGA. “You always kind of expect it on the Saturday, and you just try to stay in your own little bubble.”
