Stacy Lewis on a mission at LPGA Cambia Portland Classic

Published 12:00 am Friday, September 1, 2017

There would be no better time for Stacy Lewis to win again then this weekend’s LPGA Cambia Portland Classic.

The Houston resident has pledged to donate all of her winnings from this weekend to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. If she continues to play like she did on Friday, the donation will be sizable.

Playing in the morning at Columbia Edgewater Country Club, Lewis fired an 8-under-par 64 to surge into a share of the lead.

“It was one of the easiest rounds of the year, to be honest,” Lewis said, noting that she’s had to fight through her share of rounds this year. “It was one that I just felt I could make a lot of birdies. Haven’t felt that way in a while, so it was really nice.”

Heading into the weekend, Lewis, Brooke Henderson and round-one leader In Gee Chun lead the tournament at 10-under par. Three golfers are two strokes back and three, including American Kim Kaufman, are three strokes back.

Play continues Saturday and Sunday at the CECC course in Northeast Portland. Seventy-four golfers played the first two days under par to make the cut.

There are 23 golfers at 5-under or better heading into the weekend. One of them is Cheyenne Woods. Tiger Woods’ niece shot even par on Friday to remain at 5-under.

The three who trail the leaders by two strokes are England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff, Japan’s Ai Miyazato and Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn.

Henderson, the 19-year-old two-time defending champion of this event, surged briefly into a one-stroke lead on Friday afternoon before finishing the day tied with Lewis and Chun. Her second 5-under round in as many days included three bogeys, six birdies and an eagle.

Chun, who shot 6-under on Thursday for the early lead, three-putted for bogey on the first hole on Friday but played the rest of her round at 5-under. Consecutive birdies on the par-4 15th and par-3 16th pulled the South Korean into the tie for the lead.

After playing the front nine in 1-under, Henderson caught fire on the back nine beginning with an eagle on the par-4 11th hole. Her approach shot from about 90 yards bounced on the front of the green and rolled smartly into the hole.

“It was pretty cool. It was a really tough shot and to see it go in just made me really happy. That kind of changed my day,” the teenager from Canada said.

After pulling her tee shot and settling for a bogey 4 on the 16th, Henderson watched a birdie putt on 17 break just left of the hole. Overall, she was satisfied with her day.

“Overall, I feel like I have a solid game plan and any time I’m in double digits (under par) after two days I’m really happy,” Henderson said.

Henderson felt she did a decent job of adjusting as the course dried out and played firmer. She expects the course to become more challenging over the hot weekend.

“I’m looking forward to kind of seeing what it’s going to play the next two days,” she said. “If it’s like today, I think you can expect the scores maybe not to be quite as low.”

Lewis, a former world No. 1 who has 11 LPGA victories but none since 2014, said she felt like she had a chance at birdie on every hole Friday morning.

She birdied five of the 10 par-4 holes, two par-3s and one par-5 to record her 64.

Lewis, who has twice finished second in Portland, said she feel comfortable at Columbia Edgewater.

“I think you have to hit it straight,” she said. “This golf course gets really hard when it gets firm. It’s going to get really hot this weekend so this golf course is going to continue to get harder.”

Lewis’ husband Gerrod Chadwell is the University of Houston’s women’s golf coach and has helped his players evacuate that campus. So if she is holding the trophy and the big check come Sunday, it would be extra meaningful.

“It would honestly probably be one of the most special. It would probably be up there with a major,” Lewis said.

Lexi Thompson, two strokes back at 4-under after Thursday, shot a 3-over on Friday. At 1-under she just made the cut.

World No. 1 So Yeon Ryu missed the cut. The South Korean had three consecutive bogeys in a 2-over-par Friday round that left her even par for 36 holes. It was only the second time in 2017 she missed a cut.

Juli Inkster, in her first competitive tournament since captaining America to victory in the Solheim Cup, missed the cut at 1-over for 36 holes. Her even-par round on Friday included four birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey on the par-3 eighth hole.

University of Oregon junior Kathleen Scavo, playing as an amateur, shot a 6-over 78 on Friday to finish at plus eight for 36 holes.

pdanzer@portlandtribune.com

@pauldanzer