ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. – Sam Saunders followed his opening 12-under 59 with a 66 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend in the Web.com Tour Championship.

Arnold Palmer’s grandson, Saunders closed with a double bogey on his home Atlantic Beach Country Club course a day after shooting the seventh sub-60 round in Web.com Tour history.

“It’s the fact that you start feeling disappointed with pars,” Saunders said. “You make good pars on holes that you know are pars, and you have to tell yourself you’re fine. It feels like you’re playing so bad compared to yesterday. I parred the first three holes today and I felt like, ‘OK, I’m still playing good golf. It’s not time to panic.”’

Saunders is trying to regain his PGA Tour card in the four-event Web .com Tour Finals after finishing 129th in the FedEx Cup standings. He entered the week 24th in the race for 25 PGA Tour cards with $27,900 – the winner Sunday will get $180,000 – in the first three events.

On the par-5 18th, he blocked his second shot right of the green, and hit third into a plugged lie in a greenside bunker. He needed two shots to get out of the bunker and missed a 10-foot bogey putt.

“I’m not going to let making a bogey out there, or a couple of loose shots that got away (bother me),” Saunders said. “That happens. Golf is hard. You can’t shoot 59 and expect to shoot 62. … What’s important is the final score after two days, and I would have taken that my whole life.”

Argentina’s Julian Etulain was second at 15 under after a 63. He was 46th in the money chase with $11,348 after finishing 161st in the FedEx Cup standings.

Bronson Burgoon (63), Jonathan Byrd (65) and Roberto Castro (64) were four strokes back at 13 under. Steve Wheatcroft, like Saunders an Atlantic Beach member, had a 68 to top the group at 12 under.

Burgoon, in the series field on a special medical extension, entered the week 15th with $42,812 – enough to secure a card. Byrd and Castro need strong finishes to regain their cards. Castro, 172nd in the FedEx Cup, is 54th at $8,526. Byrd, 170th in FedEx Cup, is 66th at $5,480.

Wheatcroft is 23rd with $29,025 after finishing 179th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Hunter Mahan missed the cut by a stroke with rounds of 70 and 68, costing the six-time PGA Tour winner a chance to regain his card in the series. He entered the week 33rd with $21,320 after finishing 182nd in the FedEx Cup standings.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Phil Mickelson and Kevin Kisner rehearsed the dance from “Three Amigos.” The only question was whether to use it at the Presidents Cup, and as the veteran of 23 team events, Mickelson concluded it would need to be a big moment.

Their match was all square on the 18th hole Friday. Mickelson was 12 feet away for birdie. A victory would give the Americans a record lead.

“If this putt goes in,” Mickelson said he told his rookie partner, “we’re going to dance.”

This turned out to be one big dance party for an American team that has gone nearly two decades without losing. They hammered the International teams on the back nine to go unbeaten in fourballs and build an 8-2 lead, the largest margin after two sessions since the Presidents Cup began in 1994.

Mickelson had his 24th match victory to tie the Presidents Cup record held by Tiger Woods, and he set a record with his 10th victory in fourballs.

As for that dance ?

It looked a little awkward, though Mickelson did slightly better than when he cropped most of his face out of a selfie he took during the opening ceremony with the last three U.S. presidents.

“I’m clearly the worst selfie taker. I’m the worst ‘Three Amigos’ dancer,” Mickelson said. “But I can putt.”

So can his teammates, who have followed the script set out by U.S. captain Steve Stricker to win every session. They won handily in the other three matches. The other match was a halve, but even in that one, Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Hadwin had a 2-up lead with four holes to play until Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed rallied. The Americans nearly won that one, too, except that Spieth narrowly missed birdie putts on the last two holes.

“Our guys stepped up again,” Stricker said. “They have a knack for doing that. To finish like that is huge for us going into tomorrow.”

Mathematically, the International team could be done Saturday, the first day of a double session – four matches of foursomes in the morning, following by four matches of fourballs in the afternoon. The Americans are 7 1/2 points away from clinching the cup.

“I think we saw the strength of the U.S. team come out today,” Price said.

He also saw his team play its worst golf on the back nine at Liberty National. The Americans won 13 holes on the back nine. The Internationals won three.

Price was not about to give up, hopeful of gaining some momentum in the morning and riding it into the afternoon ahead of the 12 singles matches on the final day.

“We’re only 10 points through 30. There’s 20 points left,” Price said. “We are not laying down. These guys are going to come out fighting over the next two days, and especially tomorrow.”

Justin Thomas, already with a big year behind him as a major champion and the FedEx Cup champion, teamed with Rickie Fowler for another easy victory. They have trailed only one hole in their two matches, and they became the first partnership to beat Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace.

They took the lead for good when Fowler made a 15-foot birdie putt on the third hole, and then Thomas produced the loudest cheer of the afternoon at a pivotal moment on the 14th hole. Oosthuizen hit his approach to 6 feet, while both Americans missed the green. From the left bunker, Thomas blasted out perfectly and watched it drop in for a birdie that kept the International team from cutting the deficit to 1 down.

Thomas birdied the next hole, and his bunker shot on the 16th hit the pin and somehow stayed out.

The shortest match of the day belonged to a pair of American rookies, Kevin Chappell and Charley Hoffman, who sat out the foursomes matches in the opening session. They were 3 up after four holes against Charl Schwartzel and Anirban Lahiri and never let up in a 6-and-5 victory.

Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, close friends and the last two U.S. Open champions, took their first lead on the par-3 10th with Koepka’s birdie, and Johnson showed rare emotion on his final two birdies in a 3-and-2 victory over Adam Scott and Jhonattan Vegas.

Scott set a record of his own – it was his 19th loss in the Presidents Cup, breaking the record held by Ernie Els.

The Americans have a 9-1-1 lead in the series, their only loss coming in 1998 at Royal Melbourne. But it has at least been close after the opening two sessions, with neither side leading by more than two points since 1998.

“We’re going to keep the pedal down,” Hoffman said. “These guys are going to keep pushing us. We’re not going to get complacent where we’re at right now.”

Few could have predicted the wild finish that took place on Friday for the World Junior Girls Championship at The Marshes Golf Club.

In thrilling fashion, the Spanish team fired a collective 4-under par (140) to erase an eight-stroke deficit, forcing a playoff with the Korean squad. As light rain began to fall, both teams headed back to the par-4 18th in pairs to conduct the first playoff in World Junior Girls Championship history.

The Spaniards kept their foot on the gas, with two of the first three team members making birdie on the hole to put the trio at 2 under. The Korean team was then forced to hole out for eagle to continue the match, but their approach missed the green to the right.

“If I would not have made that putt, my teammates might not have been as motivated as they were,” said Elena Arias, the first Spanish team member to birdie the playoff. “I just hit the putt like the other times I had played the hole. It just looked so clear to me and went in but I was so nervous.”

Dimana Viudes followed in the second playoff group, capping her 3-under bogey-free round with a birdie of her own.

“It is like Elena said, her putt really gave me confidence because knowing that we already had a birdie was a great start,” said Viudes, who finished in fourth place individually. “I was very nervous but at the same time calm as well. I was just lucky enough to pull off the shot.”

The win marks the first World Junior Girls Championship medal for Team Spain, which is something not lost on the team’s coach.

“This is a dream come true. To beat a strong team like Korea is something else,” said Nacho Gervas, Team Spain coach. “They are so strong that at times you feel like you are playing for second place. I told them (Spain) they had the game to do well today and if we played our game you never know what can happen.”

Republic of Korea’s Seo-yun Kwon, the 54-hole leader, headed into the final round with a two-stroke advantage over Italy’s Alessia Nobilio. Kwon had built a clear advantage on the day before running into trouble on the par-5 14th with a triple-bogey.

Nobilio took advantage of Kwon’s mishap by making birdie on the 14th to briefly hold a one-stroke lead, until giving a stroke back on the next hole. The pair took scores of 9 under to the last hole, forcing another playoff to be commenced after the team event was decided.

With Korea losing the team event, Kwon was determined to come out on top. The 16-year-old missed the green on her approach but went up-and-down for par, beating out Nobilio who slipped with a bogey.

“At first I was angry with myself because I was leading by a few strokes and made one mistake,” said Kwon. “Even though I won the individual medal, I am a little disappointed in myself because if I had done a little more, we could have won the team championship so it is bitter sweet. This is my first win at an international tournament so right now I am so happy.”

A big round of ?? for Korea’s Seo-yun Kwon??, who hung on for the wire-to-wire individual title at the World Junior Girls Championship #WJGC pic.twitter.com/vOXAzuHWvB

— Golf Canada (@TheGolfCanada) September 29, 2017

Rounding out the team medallists was the trio from Sweden, who finished the tournament at 9 under par, five strokes shy of Spain and Korea. Spain’s Blanca Fernández took home the individual bronze medal, posting a final-round 71 to close the tournament at 7 under par.

Céleste Dao from Notre-Dame-de-L’Île-Perrot, Que., finished as the low Canadian with a share of 24th place at 6 over for the tournament.

In 2018, the World Junior Girls Championship will return to the Ottawa area at Camelot Golf and Country Club next September.

Additional information and full results from the competition can be found here.

Photos from the fourth annual World Junior Girls Championsip can be viewed here.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Spain’s Belen Mozo shot an 8-under 64, including a hole in one on the par-3 13th, to take a five-stroke lead after two rounds of the New Zealand Women’s Open on Friday.

Mozo finished strongly with a birdie on the 18th after a double-bogey on the 17th after hitting her tee shot into the water.

She had a 14-under total of 130 on the newly-established Windross Farm course.

Three golfers shared second place – Emily Tubert of the United States, who shot 65 Friday, Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden (67) and Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., the co-leader after the first round who had a 70 Friday.

Local favourite Lydia Ko shot 68 and was eight strokes behind Mozo.

The four other Canadians in the tournament include Alena Sharp of Hamilton, who fired a 73 to sit tied for 69th to just make the cut.

But Maude Aimee-Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., and Lorie Kane of Charlottetown each shot rounds of 76 and missed the cut, as did Calgary’s Jennifer Ha, who carded a 74.

Mozo used a seven iron on the 164-meter 13th. The ball pitched on the apron of the green and rolled straight into the hole.

Mozo, who hasn’t won an LPGA event since joining the tour in 2011, kissed the billboard depicting the luxury car she would have won if she had aced the hole on Saturday or Sunday.

“It is karma,” Mozo joked. “The last hole-in-one I found out someone had got one just before me so I missed the prize. This one the car is for the weekend. It is my fifth hole-in-one in competition.”

Mozo started the day in a share of third place after a first-round 66 and took the lead Friday with six birdies in her first nine holes.

“When you score like this, everything seems so easy,” she said. “I got perfect weather but you still have to perform well. I struck the ball really well and overall I was in a very calm state of mind.”

The 25-year-old Tubert, a native of Burbank, California, was a three-time all-American at the University of Arkansas and was the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links champion in 2010.

She considered quitting top-level golf while still at college, before joining the LPGA Tour this year.

With a new coach and caddie the 487th-ranked Tubert, with earnings of $23,654 this season, has begun to find her form. Her round Friday was bogey-free and featured a 40-foot birdie putt on the 13th.

“Things got off to a slow start but I stayed patient after I didn’t make any birdies early,” Tubert said. “I made some good putts and just tried to enjoy cold, misty New Zealand. It’s refreshing because it’s been a long time since I played good golf. ”

ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. – Sam Saunders, Arnold Palmer’s grandson, shot a 12-under 59 on his home course Thursday in the first round of the Web.com Tour Championship.

Saunders birdied his final six holes at Atlantic Beach Country Club – the Jacksonville-area club where he became a member this year – for the seventh sub-60 round in Web.com Tour history.

With wife Kelly and 8-year-old son Cohen looking on, Saunders made an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-3 eighth and closed with a 10-footer on the par-4 ninth.

“It was dead centre. I saw it going in from a few feet out,” he said about the final putt.

Stephan Jaeger set the tour record of 58 last year in the Ellie Mae Classic at TPC Stonebrae in Hayward, California, and Notah Begay III, Doug Dunakey, Jason Gore, Will Wilcox and Russell Knox also shot 59.

“Honestly, I was excited because my wife and my son, Cohen, who is really getting into golf, got to watch,” Saunders said. “He’s only watched me play three full rounds of golf probably. He’s watched me fail in golf a lot, which is good, that’s a good lesson for him. For my wife, Kelly, to be there; she’s watched the ups and downs of this whole deal. I’m really glad that they got to be out there and watch me do that.”

Saunders had 13 birdies and a bogey. Opening on No. 10, he birdied the first three holes and added a birdie on 14. He bogeyed the par-3 15th, taking two shots to get out of a bunker, and birdied 15 and 18 to make the turn in 5 under. He birdied No. 2 and Nos. 4-9 for a 7-under 28 on his final nine.

On the par-3 fifth, the 30-year-old former Clemson player holed a 40-footer from well over the green with a shaved bank and pond looming beyond the hole.

“You’re dead. You’ve got no shot there,” Saunders said. “I putted it up the hill and it was going Mach 1, it would’ve been 30 feet past the hole and it hit dead centre.”I was just hoping for it to hit the pin. When I saw it was about 2 feet away, my heart rate went down thinking I was at least going to hit the pin. Then it when it went in I was embarrassed because it was a horrible shot, but you need to get some luck sometimes.“

Saunders is trying to regain his PGA Tour card in the four-event Web.com Tour Finals after finishing 129th in the FedEx Cup standings. He entered the week 24th in the race for 25 PGA Tour cards with $27,900 in the first three events. He tied for 11th in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, tied for 40th in the Albertsons Boise Open and missed the cut in the DAP Championship.

“I’ve been pretty tired in these Web.com Tour Finals, so it was nice to get home and get some rest and not over-practice coming in,” Saunders said. “But, on Tuesday I had a really good warm-up session and was able to figure things out. It comes back to putting, and I made everything today. That’s how you go low.”

Saunders was paired with fellow Atlantic Beach member Steve Wheatcroft, who had a 62 for a share of second place with Matt Atkins.

“It was a good time out there and it was a real special day, certainly memorable. I played with my buddy Steve Wheatcroft and we kind of fed off each other,” Saunders said. “Honestly, it just felt like a regular day at home playing our little money game and I got into a good rhythm. It was a blast.”

Wheatcroft entered the week 23rd with $29,025 after finishing 179th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Tyler Duncan and Canadian Ben Silverman shot 63.

Duncan came into the tournament 13th with $43,158, more than enough to secure a card. Atkins and Silverman have already earned PGA Tour cards as top-25 finishers on the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list. They are trying to improve their status.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The opening ceremony at the Presidents Cup was unlike any other in golf with former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton on the first tee.

The results were all too familiar.

The Americans led at some point in all five of the foursomes matches Thursday at Liberty National. They won the first three. And when they jumped on a ferry to take them across the New York Harbor to their Manhattan hotel, they had the lead.

The U.S. Team surged into the lead after Day 1 of the @PresidentsCup. pic.twitter.com/M1DOLBsqQi

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 29, 2017

Behind a new tandem of Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas, and an old one of Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, the Americans jumped out to a 3 1/2-1 1/2 lead. It was the sixth consecutive time they led after the opening session in an event they haven’t lost in two decades.

“Jordan mentioned that this first session is pretty critical and we need to go out there and take care of business,” Fowler said. “I feel like as a team, we did a really good job of that. If we can do the same thing tomorrow and win another session, it puts us in a great position.”

Thomas and Fowler lost only two holes in a 6-and-4 victory over Hideki Matsuyama and Charl Schwartzel. Spieth and Reed improved to 6-1-2 as a tandem in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. Spieth holed a 35-foot putt on the 11th hole right when it looked as if Emiliano Grillo and Si Woo Kim might gain some momentum. Instead, the match was over three holes later, 5 and 4.

Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar remained unbeaten in four matches, not taking the lead until the 16th hole and making it stand in a 1-up victory over Adam Scott and Jhonattan Vegas.

“We’ve been off to poor starts for a while on Thursdays,” International captain Nick Price said. “We have a resilient team. They have this ability to come back and bounce back, and they have done it. They did it last time in Korea.”

Indeed, the Americans had a 4-1 lead after the first session two years ago, and that Presidents Cup came down to the final match.

Phil Mickelson, playing in his 23rd consecutive team competition, ended the tough, wind-swept afternoon at Liberty National by missing an 8-foot par putt, or the U.S. lead would have been even greater. He and Kevin Kisner were 1 down with two holes remaining to Jason Day and Marc Leishman, so a half-point wasn’t bad.

Mickelson’s only complaint was that he botched his selfie with the presidents, with barely his head showing.

For the most part, everything else went the Americans’ way.

The lone bright spot for the International team was Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace, who improved to 5-0 as a tandem. The South African duo pulled away for a 3-and-1 victory over U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger.

“Listen, we’re a half-point better than last time, so that’s a big up for us,” Grace said. “We’ve got a great team. We all want it really badly. … I’m sure we’re going to have a good night and then going to come back tomorrow blazing.”

The stars on this day didn’t hit a shot.

The leader of every country where the Presidents Cup is held are invited to be honorary chairman, but this was a first – three U.S. presidents together at this event, sitting together in a box on the first tee and then posing with the trophy, the players and their wives.

“I was looking forward to this Presidents Cup for a very long time, and I didn’t expect all the presidents to be there,” Schwartzel said. “Just to get to meet them was a dream come true for me. Then to hit that first tee shot with the wind pumping off the right was quite intimidating.”

The Americans have a 9-1-1 lead in the series, their lone loss in 1998 at Royal Melbourne a few weeks before Christmas.

The gusts topped 20 mph and felt even stronger on exposed areas of Liberty National, which sits across New York Harbor from Manhattan.

The par-3 10th hole was so difficult to judge the wind that Scott hit a tee shot that sailed over the green into a hazard, while Spieth in the match behind him came up some 60 feet short of the hole in a bunker.

Johnson and Kuchar didn’t make a single bogey, remarkable in the format and in the wind, and they still didn’t take the lead until Johnson’s tee shot on the par-3 16th with a strong wind at his back stopped 5 feet away. Scott came up short, and then missed a 6-foot par putt.

“In alternate shot, in these conditions, not to make a bogey and for us to just win 1 up, that’s a heck of a battle that we had with those guys,” Kuchar said.

Friday features five matches of fourballs, followed by a full day of foursomes and fourballs Saturday and the decisive Sunday singles.

“There’s still a long, long ways to go,” U.S. captain Steve Stricker said. “But we very much liked the day and the way it started.”

The playing conditions tightened up on moving day in the World Junior Girls Championship, with high winds bringing temperatures down 20C from the opening two rounds at The Marshes Golf Club.

Republic of Korea’s Seo-yun Kwon carded a 2-under 70 to keep the individual lead for the third consecutive day. She heads into tomorrow’s final round at 11 under for the tournament with a two-stroke advantage over Italy’s Alessia Nobilio.

“My mindset heading into tomorrow will be pretty much the same as what I have done in the past three rounds,” said the 16-year-old Kwon. “I won’t worry about what the other players are doing because I always set a certain goal for myself. So tomorrow I will do that and play for my goal.”

Nobilio carded one of two low-round 68s on the day, moving her into sole possession of second place. The 15-year-old caught fire with five-straight birdies before giving strokes back with a bogey on 13, and a double-bogey on the par-4 18th.

“I think I played perfectly until the last hole,” said Nobilio, the 41st ranked female in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. “I made five birdies in a row and my irons were always two meters from the pin, so that was my strength today. If I do my best I know that I can play good golf. I just need to concentrate until the last hole and everything will be fine.”

Nobilio’s efforts also helped lift the Italian team into a share of third place at 7 under, giving the trio a chance at what would be their first team medal at the World Junior Girls Championship. Caterina Don, who is currently tied for 26th, took home the individual bronze medal for the Italians in 2016.

“This is an important tournament for Italy,” added Nobilio. “Playing in a world championship and representing my country is just a dream for me.”

Spain carded a team-low 139 (-5) to move into second place at 10 under par, eight back of the leading Korean trio. The Koreans will look to collect their second World Junior Girls title at The Marshes – they captured the 2015 tournament here by a commanding 18 strokes.

Leading the Canadians in the field with a share of 26th at 4 over is Céleste Dao from Notre-Dame-de-L’Île-Perrot, Que.

The final round of tournament play will see players tee off at 8 a.m. Additional information and full results from the competition can be found here.

Assistant captains Mike Weir and Tiger Woods relive their memorable match in the 2007 Presidents Cup and take part in a trivia battle on who knows their team best.

Watch the clip from PGA TOUR below:

BRANTFORD, Ont. – Heat and sunny skies greeted over 110 women on Tuesday at the 14th annual Golf Fore the Cure presented by Subaru National Event at the Brantford Golf & Country Club.

Corporate partners, individual participants and the top-three fundraising teams selected from over 160 participating sites over the course of the season were on hand to celebrate raising more than $300,000 for breast cancer research through individual Golf Fore the Cure events run coast to coast in 2017.

The National Event featured 18-holes of golf packed with raffles, prizing, and games, followed by an awards dinner to thank and recognize the fundraising efforts put forth by Golf Fore the Cure participants across Canada.

Through 160 events in 2017 and upwards of 14,000 women, Golf Fore the Cure presented by Subaru raised its fundraising total to-date to over $6 million—with all proceeds donated to the Canadian Cancer Society and the Québec Breast Cancer Foundation.

“The participants of Golf Fore the Cure provide a strong reminder of the power of sport and the health of women’s golf across the country,” said Jeff Thompson, Golf Canada’s chief sport officer. “The success of this program would not be possible without the leadership of our site coordinators and over 14,000 participants from coast to coast.”

Golf Canada also honoured this year’s top-three fundraising teams, listed below:

1. Sandy Hook Golf Club, Sandy Hook Manitoba ($29,518)
2. Elk Ridge Resort, Waskesiu Saskatchewan ($23,002)
3. Golf New Brunswick ($21,117)

“Golf Canada is very thankful for the collective efforts of our many volunteers and corporate sponsors—Subaru Canada, adidas Golf and WayPoint,” added Thompson. “Their dedication and support has led to the program’s continued success and we are thrilled to have such a great team behind Golf Fore the Cure.”

Golf Fore the Cure presented by Subaru was created in 2003 by Golf Canada to drive women’s participation in the game of golf through the use of fun, non-intimidating activities. Through a unique partnership structure with the Canadian Cancer Society (and Québec Breast Cancer Foundation), the program has women across the country participating in golf activities and raising money and awareness for a cause close to Canadian hearts—the fight against breast cancer.

Subaru Canada has been a proud partner of Golf Fore the Cure since 2007. The company’s extended commitment reaffirms their dedication to making a difference in the fight against breast cancer.

Photos from Tuesday’s National Event can be viewed here.

To learn how to get involved with Golf Fore the Cure presented by Subaru, visit golfcanada.ca/golfforethecure

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Canadian Brooke Henderson and Jodi Ewart Shadoff of England shot 7-under 65 on Thursday to share the lead in the New Zealand Women’s Open, leaving home star Lydia Ko five strokes back after the first round.

The playing partners led by one stroke over Amy Boulden of Wales and Belen Mozo of Spain, with American Brittany Lincicome, Beatriz Recari of Spain and South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi another stroke back after 67s.

The New Zealand Open is on the LPGA Tour for the first time this year.

Henderson and Ewart Shadoff took advantage of easier morning conditions before the winds picked up on the newly-established Windross Farm course east of Auckland.

“Going out there I knew I had to take advantage of the good conditions,” Ewart Shadoff said. “I putted well today. I think the greens are great … they are running really true.”

The Yorkshire-born golfer has yet to win on the LPGA Tour, after joining in 2011, but picked up her best paycheque in early August when she shot 64 in the final round to move into second place behind In-Kyung Kim at the Women’s British Open.

Ewart Shadoff and Henderson were joined by Denmark’s Nicole Broch Larsen (72), and the trio produced 17 birdies.

“I was looking to get on top of the leaderboard early,” Henderson said. “I know with the conditions today that the scores were going to be really low. To shoot minus 7 on a golf course that I didn’t think completely suited my game is really exciting.”

Henderson said she received the luck of the draw on Thursday.

“If the wind picks up it is going to be a completely different golf course,” she said. “I was fortunate this morning that the winds were calm and the greens were holding more than the last few days.”

ICYMI: Round 1 Highlights from beautiful New Zealand and the @NZWomen‘sOpen where @BrookeHenderson and @Jodi_Ewart share the lead at 7-under pic.twitter.com/nxXmDcKYU3

— #CMEFinalStretch ? (@LPGA) September 28, 2017

Henderson’s 7-under 65 ties the second lowest round of her career – she has twice shot 63.

Former No. 1 Ko, who drew a huge gallery, had four birdies and two bogeys in her 70, leaving her in a tie for 21st.

“I hit the ball well throughout the day and gave myself a good look at birdies, even on my back nine, but couldn’t hole them,” said Ko who has struggled with her putter this season.

“I kept committing to lines and all you can do is trust the read and put a good stroke on it.”

The South Korea-born Ko has won her home Open in three of the last four years – 2013, 2015 and 2016. However, she hasn’t won an LPGA tournament in over a year.