Henderson and Sharp in play at ANA Inspiration

LPGA ANA Inspiration leaderboard http://www.lpga.com/tournaments/ana-inspiration/leaderboard

Brooke Henderson (-2 70 T20) and Alena Sharp (-1 71 T36) are the two Canadians in the first major of the LPGA 2018 season, the ANA Inspiration on the fabled Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills Country Club with 43 of the top 50 players in the world in attendance.

You may remember the drama last year with Lexi (Legsy)Thompson well on her way to victory on Sunday before she was assessed a four-stroke penalty on the 12th hole, for marking her ball incorrectly the day before, after a viewer called in. She fought back, forced a playoff with So Yeon Ryu, who beat her with a birdie on the first playoff hole.

She is at 68 -4 this week after the first round, using her new Cobra driver and Bridgestone ball, and averaging 325 yards on a course that rewards length of the tee. Jessica Korda who has never won a major was in the group at -5 67.

I watched Brooke Henderson's presser this week and she did talk about that length and it's importance this week. She is 13th on Tour with a driving average of 268.39 yards, and had this to say.

"Brittany Lincicome, Lexi (Thompson), they hit it a really long way, and they’ve won here or been close the last ten years very often, so there is something to that, I think it’s so they can reach the par 5s a little bit easier. I think if you can birdie all the par 5s every single day, you’re going to put yourself in a good position"

Then she talked about how she is learning that staying patient is important for her.
"So try to keep the patience. If things aren’t going to go perfect, because at some point during the four days there’s going to be a rough patch, especially in a major championship. So just trying to persevere through that, stay patient, and when good things happen, hopefully take it on the run.”

The leader is Sweden's Pernilla Lindberg who had bogey free -7 65 to lead the tightly packed field into the second round under typically hot, sunny desert conditions.

By the way, Lydia Ko, who was by far the best player on this tour 2 years ago, (and the winner here in 2016) before firing her caddy, her coach, changing equipment, her swing and losing her game in the process, is at -2 70 along with Brooke. She has let the rest of the women in, and I often wonder if she will ever recover her game, her confidence. She has slipped from the undisputed world #1 to #15.

Bryan Angus