Brooke Henderson started the year off right.
In the opening round of the 2018 LPGA calendar, the 20-year-old Canadian went bogey-free to claim the lead in the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic. Henderson shot a 5-under 68 to take a one-stroke lead on Thursday despite high winds that wreaked havoc on all the golfers in the field.
Play was suspended at 5:59 pm ET due to darkness @PureSilkLPGA. Here's the current leaderboard >>> pic.twitter.com/IqSPveZT8N
— LPGA (@LPGA) January 25, 2018
"The wind is so strong, Britt and I did a good job of negotiating it the whole day," Henderson told LPGA.com while mentioning caddie and sister, Brittany. "I made a lot of birdies and I don't think I made a bogey, which is also a great thing, especially in the wind."
One of Henderson's two tour victories in 2017 came in New Zealand, where the conditions were similar to what they were on Thursday in the Bahamas. Henderson says she's trying to use last year's positive experience in high winds to improve her game.
"Every year I've kind of struggled at the British Open [in windy conditions] so I've been trying to work on my wind game a little bit," she said. "Last year in New Zealand I played extremely well in it and it gave me a lot of confidence. Going into [Thursday] it was a little bit scary, just because it was so windy before I teed off, but we were able to go through it really well."
Sarah Jane Smith of Australia and Spain's Luna Sobron Galmes are tied for second, with six women in a fourth-place deadlock.