Golf Canada – News and notes from Magna Golf Club for Friday, August 23rd  –

AURORA, Ont. – Defending champion Brooke Henderson shot a 3-under-par 69 Friday and heads into the weekend tied for third at the CP Women’s Open at Magna Golf Club. 

Henderson, who is looking for her third LPGA Tour win of 2019, trails Nicole Broch Larsen by three shots, who leads at 12-under through two rounds. 

Larsen has a one-shot lead over world No. 1 Jin Young Ko. Ko already has three victories this season and has a sizable lead in the Rolex Player of the Year race. 

Henderson made two birdies on her first nine holes Friday and added another on the back-nine. She didn’t have as clean a day off the tee as Thursday when she shot a 6-under 66 – hitting only eight of 14 fairways. 

Winds at Magna Golf Club picked up Friday, but Henderson escaped unscathed with a bogey-free second-round.

“No bogeys is always great, so that’s a good feeling,” said Henderson. “I feel like I played pretty solid. Unfortunately, I didn’t get some of those closer looks for birdie. But, I still feel like I hit a lot of greens and my putting was good enough.”

At 9-under through two rounds, Henderson is tied with China’s Yu Liu and Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn. 

On Red & White Day at the CP Women’s Open Henderson – clad in both colours, of course – had a throng of loyal Canadian followers hanging on to her every move at Magna Golf Club. She said the crowd support has been ‘amazing’ so far.

“So many people (here) early in the morning and late at night,” Henderson added. “It’s been awesome. It’s pretty special to have all these people out there following you around and cheering you on. Sometimes you just see a little kid smiling at you and wanting a high-five, and it takes you on out of the moment for a second. I feel like that’s good. Kind of brings you back to real life I guess you could say. They just have so much belief in you and I think that kind of inspires me a little bit.”

Henderson was one of two Canadians to make the cut, as AC Tanguay finished at 4-under and is T-25 heading into the weekend. After a tough stretch to open her round Friday – she went bogey-double-double on holes 4 thru 6 – Tanguay managed to right the ship.

“I didn’t feel like I did anything wrong. It just went wrong. It went south real quick,” she admitted. “But I knew I was hitting it well and really in a good place. I built so much momentum on the back nine and felt so much better over the ball today than yesterday, so I think I’m going to build on that for the weekend.”

Broch Larsen, meanwhile, said she played similarly to Thursday – where she shot another 66.

“I’m not flushing it, but I’m just playing kind of steady and getting away with my bad shots,” she said. “Today I made a couple good putts out there, which helps.”

Broch Larsen, of Denmark, was the 2015 Ladies European Tour Player of the Year. She hasn’t yet won on the LPGA Tour, but did win the 2016 Symetra Tour Championship to earn her LPGA Tour card for 2017.

The last time Larsen held the lead on the LPGA Tour was two years ago at the CP Women’s Open in Ottawa. She said she learned a lot from being in that position then.

“I feel like I’m more confident in this position now than I was two years ago even though I haven’t been here for a while,” she explained. “I’m just trying to play as free as possible.”

Broch Larsen admitted she had a “terrible” warm-up on the driving range Friday, overthinking everything. She said was having trouble finding the right swing, but she wanted to go out and commit to her shots and see where it took her.

Where it took her, through two rounds at the CP Women’s Open, was the top of the leaderboard.

The cut fell at 1-under with 71 players finding the weekend.

12-YEAR-OLD MICHELLE LIU WRAPS UP CP WOMEN’S OPEN DEBUT
Although it wasn’t the LPGA Tour debut Michelle Liu would have wanted score-wise, the experience for the 12-year-old couldn’t have been better. 

Liu (81-82) said she had ‘a lot of fun’ being able to tee it up alongside the best in the world. She was grouped with 2019 Augusta National Women’s Amateur winner Jennifer Kupcho, a tournament Liu said she’d like to try to win one day.

“I think it’s great that I get to play with such great players,” said Liu. “Hopefully, I learn something from them.”

No amateurs, including Liu, made the cut at the CP Women’s Open American. Brianna Navarrosa – the 2019 Canadian Women’s Amateur champion – had the best finish out of the  six amateurs in the field at 3-over par in her first-ever LPGA Tour event.

Liu said the highlight of the week was her walk up the 18th fairway to a chorus of cheers from the legion of fans she made at Magna Golf Club. The biggest challenge, she said, was with her mental game.

“I’m really glad that I’m able to like experience this challenge as an amateur and at such a young age,” Liu said. “I think being able to get this over with and make it an experience – it’ll really help me moving forward and in other tournaments, because now I it’s going to be pretty hard to play in a tournament larger than this one.”

The 2020 CP Women’s Open will be played at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, Liu’s home course in Vancouver. She said she’s already got that event circled on her calendar. 

But first Liu, who goes into grade eight this September, will be playing a few local tournaments and then she’ll be off on a camping trip before school starts.  And what a good campfire story this week will make. 

PAIRING AND START TIMES
Pairings for the 2019 CP Women’s Open are available here.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS, AUDIO FILES AND VIDEO
Interview transcripts, audio MP3 files, as well as downloadable royalty-free images and broadcast quality videos for all media interviews and scrums are available online here.

MEDIA GUIDE & PLAYER PERFORMANCE
Download the 2019 CP Women’s Open Media Guide by clicking here and the Player Performance Guide by clicking here.

CANADIAN SCORES:
The following are second-round scores for the 15 Canadians competing in the 2019 CP Women’s Open:

Brooke Henderson 66-69 (-9)

Anne-Catherine Tanguay 66-74 (-4)
— MISSED CUT —
Alena Sharp 73-71 (E)
Megan Osland 72-74 (+2)
Maude-Aimee Leblanc 77-70 (+3)
Brittany Marchand 77-71 (+4)
Maddie Szeryk 78-72 (+6)
Valérie Tanguay 76-75 (+7)
Mary Parsons * 78-74 (+8)
Emily Zhu * 79-74 (+9)
Brigitte Thibault * 78-78 (+12)
Céleste Dao * 77-80 (+13)
Casey Ward 80-77 (+13)
Michelle Liu * 81-82 (+19)
Lorie Kane 87-80 (+23)

* denotes amateur

A full list of scores for the 2019 CP Women’s Open are available by online here.

CP HAS HEART IN SUPPORT OF SICKKIDS FOUNDATION
Canadian Pacific will continue its history of making a substantial donation to the host community through its CP Has Heart community investment program. In the five years of CP’s title sponsorship of the CP Women’s Open, $8.5 million has been raised to support children’s heart health in communities across Canada. This year, the campaign will benefit SickKids Foundation, the primary charity partner for the 2019 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, as well as Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ont. For more information on CP Has Heart, visit www.cphasheart.com.

BIRDIES FOR HEART
You can help fundraise for an upgraded Cardiac Operating Suite at SickKids by pledging a donation amount or per birdie for 2019 CP Women’s Open tournament play. Whenever a LPGA Tour player sinks a birdie on the 17th hole, your chosen dollar amount is donated to SickKids Foundation. For all donations made through Birdies For Heart, spectator support will be matched by CP. To participate, please click here.

The second round saw 16 sub-par scores (16 birdies) at No. 17, which amounts to $80,000 raised for the SickKids Foundation via the CP Birdies for Heart program which donates $5,000 per sub-par score at the par-3 17th at Magna Golf Club. Through two rounds, $135,000 has been raised. 

TELEVISION COVERAGE
Saturday, August 24 – Golf Channel/TSN/RDS – 2:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, August 25 – Golf Channel/TSN/RDS – 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

* All times local.

2019 CP WOMEN’S OPEN TICKETS
One of Canada’s premier annual sporting events, the CP Women’s Open features miles of front row seating for golf fans to experience Canada’s lone stop on the LPGA Tour and cheer on Canadian sensation and CP Ambassador Brooke Henderson as she defends her national title on home soil.

General admission tickets provide access to the grounds to get an up-close look at the stars of the LPGA Tour. Tournament rounds for Saturday are $65; a Sunday final-round ticket is $80; and a weeklong, fully transferable badge is $150. Jjuniors aged 12-and-under gain FREE grounds admission all week long.

In addition to general admission tickets, a limited number of upgraded spectator viewing experiences are still available. A full list of ticket packages and pricing is available online at www.cpwomensopen.com/tickets.

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ABOUT THE 2019 CP WOMEN’S OPEN
The stars of the LPGA Tour will challenge for the CP Women’s Open from August 19-25, 2019 at Magna Golf Club in Aurora, Ont. The CP Women’s Open is proud to name the SickKids Foundation as the official tournament charity for 2019. Funds raised will be dedicated to pediatric cardiology space as well as specialized equipment and are being matched by CP through its CP Has Heart community program. The CP Women’s Open, Canada’s Women’s Open Golf Championship, is proudly sponsored by CP, Audi, RBC, Steam Whistle, Levelwear, Golf Town, Sheraton Parkway Toronto North Hotel & Suites, Coca-Cola, the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario. For information on volunteer opportunities, tickets or corporate hospitality, visit www.cpwomensopen.com, or call 1-866-571-5742.

ABOUT CANADIAN PACIFIC
Canadian Pacific is a transcontinental railway in Canada and the United States with direct links to major ports on the west and east coasts. CP provides North American customers a competitive rail service with access to key markets in every corner of the globe. CP is growing with its customers, offering a suite of freight transportation services, logistics solutions and supply chain expertise. Visit cpr.ca to see the rail advantages of CP.

ABOUT GOLF CANADA
Golf Canada is the National Sports Federation and governing body for golf in Canada representing 319,000 golfers and 1,400 member clubs across the country. A proud member of the Canadian Olympic Committee, Golf Canada’s mission is to increase Canadian participation and excellence in golf. By investing in the growth of the sport and introducing more participants of all ages to the game, our vision is to be a world leader in golf. For more information about what Golf Canada is doing to support golf in your community, visit www.golfcanada.ca.

Media Contacts:
Dan Pino | Director, Media and Public Relations, Golf Canada | 416-434-5525 | dpino@golfcanada.ca

Salem Woodrow | Advisor, Media Relations, Canadian Pacific | 204-934-4255 |  Salem_Woodrow@cpr.ca