Lauren Coughlin maintains lead at CPKC Women’s Open; Henderson 7 points behind

CALGARY, Alberta — Lauren Coughlin held on to her lead Friday in the CPKC Women’s Open as Canadian star Brooke Henderson was stymied by close bogeys at windy and smoky Earl Grey Golf Club.

Coughlin followed her opening 4-under 68 on Thursday in cold and windy conditions with a 70 on Friday to move to 6 under, a stroke ahead of Hannah Green and Haeran Ryu. Temperatures reached the 70s after barely breaking the 60s on Thursday.

“I think I handled it really well overall,” Coughlin said. “It was just really hard to gauge how far the ball was going to go with the wind and the crosswind and how firm the greens were going to be. And they had some tough pins, especially with the wind direction.”

Playing through a smoky haze from wildfires, Henderson bogeyed the final four holes of her afternoon round for a 73 that left her seven shots behind at 1 over. She won the 2018 tournament.

Coughlin is coming off a fourth-place finish two weeks ago in France at the Evian Champions. The 31-year-old former University of Virginia player is winless on the LPGA Tour.

On Friday, she had three front-none birdies and lost a stroke on the par-4 11th. Through two rounds, she is 7 under on the front nine and 1 over on the back nine.

“I putted extremely well,” Coughlin said. “I putted really well in twos all day. I took advantage of the first nine holes, which is what you’ve got to do, and then kind of held on the last nine holes.”

Green equalled Coughlin with a 70. The Australian is a two-time winner this year, having won the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore in February and the JM Eagle LA Championship in April.

“It was tough out there again,” Green said. “There were some pretty strong winds, especially on our last few holes, so it was tough to commit to the shot you wanted to play.”

Ryu made bogey on the 18th hole for a 69.

“The weather is really bad,” Ryu said. “It’s a little cold and there’s so much wind.”

The 23-year-old South Korean player won the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship last year for her first LPGA Tour title and was runner-up in Ohio last week at the Dana Open.

Three-time champion Lydia Ko had a 71, joining runners-up Lilia Vu (70) and Jennifer Kupcho (72) at 3 under. Ko won as an amateur in 2012 at age 15, successfully defended her title as an amateur in 2013 and won as a professional in 2015.

“It’s not easy — and I think the scores show that,” Ko said. “Anything that was under par the last few days is a really solid round. I’m pretty happy with the way I started this week.”

Kupcho topped the leaderboard at 8 under after birdieing five of the first eight holes of her morning round, and was then 5 over the rest of the round. She had a double bogey on the par-4 16th, four bogeys and a birdie on her final nine holes.

“I’m pretty upset,” Kupcho said. “I think in retrospect I still hit 15 greens. Like I hit the ball really well. Three-putted 10 and 11 and four-putted 16. I didn’t play bad. I just had a couple of shaky putts on the last stretch — and that’s going to happen.”

Lexi Thompson was in the same group as Henderson and was tied for 26th place at 1-over-par after a 73. The American plans to play a reduced schedule after this season.