Henderson keeps lead even after birdie run dries up

EVIAN (France) • After starting the Evian Championship with back-to-back seven-under 64s - the first time in LPGA Tour history a player has carded 128 or lower in the first two rounds of a Major - Brooke Henderson found birdies much harder to come by yesterday.

The Canadian, bidding to win a second Major after her 2016 breakthrough as an 18-year-old at the Women's PGA Championship, carded a third-round 68 and sits at 17-under 196.

South Korean Ryu So-yeon is two shots back in second on 198, having staged a wonderful fightback with three birdies in her last four holes to sign for a 65. American Sophia Schubert shot 66 and is alone in third on 200.

Henderson bogeyed her opening hole before knocking in birdies on the third, seventh and ninth holes. Her momentum halted though on the back nine, with eight pars and a solitary birdie.

She said: "It wasn't as good as the first few days, just not as many birdies. But I really hung in there, made some clutch pars on the back nine which felt nice.

" I felt like the course played a little bit tougher for me today.

"Obviously, I'm still in a great position going into Sunday, which is always a lot of fun and hopefully I have a great day tomorrow."

On her approach for the final round, Henderson, who won last month's Shoprite LPGA Classic, said: "It's important where you're placing the ball off the tee and into the green, so we have to come up with a good strategy together tonight... hopefully I'll be able to hit the shots where I need to because this can be a very tricky course if you start missing shots in the wrong areas."

Ryu, 32, has won six times on the LPGA Tour but her two Majors came at the 2011 US Women's Open and 2017 ANA Inspiration. She is desperate to end that drought but acknowledged it will be tough. She said: "I think every golfer is pretty much a great actress. We're nervous all the time."

American Nelly Korda, the Tokyo Games gold medallist, had been Henderson's closest challenger after 36 holes, three strokes back and ready to pounce. But the former world No. 1 cut a frustrated figure yesterday at the picturesque Evian Resort Golf Club, mixing four birdies with four bogeys for a 71 that saw her drop back to tied-sixth on 202 alongside a host of players including world No. 1 Ko Jin-young (67)and Thailand's teen prodigy Atthaya Thitikul (68).

Last month's KPMG Women's PGA Championship winner Chun In-gee shot a 66 but at 205 is unlikely to claim back-to-back Majors. Australia's defending champion and reigning US Women's Open winner, Minjee Lee (73), is further back on 212.

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