As Brooke Henderson neared the finish of her third round at the Olympic golf competition in France, she roped one of her approach shots on the back nine, and American broadcaster Morgan Pressel said it looked like Henderson was fired up.
But there was, accidentally, another ‘f’ word before ‘fired.’
It was a slip of the tongue, but it perfectly described the Canadian’s third-round effort. Henderson shot a 5-under 67, far and away her best round of the week, and tied for the second-lowest round of the day.
Henderson is five shots back of the bronze medal position through 54 holes at Le Golf National. She knows she’ll have to fire a similar round in the finale to make up ground. But given how tough the course is playing for the women this week, anything could happen.
“It was a great moving day. I’m really happy with how today went. No bogeys on this golf course is a win,” Henderson said. “I feel like my ball striking was in a good spot today. Hopefully, more of the same tomorrow.”
Henderson said the golf course is playing similar to a major with thick rough and firm greens. The wind has been difficult to navigate, she explained.
“You definitely have to play smart and it can be a really tough golf course, especially if you get on the wrong side of things. It can play extremely tough and difficult. Today I was kind of riding a lot of highs and I feel like that confidence really helped me to continue to play well,” Henderson explained.
The Canadian came into the third round of the Olympic competition after a frustrating second day. Her putter was ice cold. She found the water en route to a bogey on her final hole of the day and Henderson admitted Thursday was tough. But she wanted to come out Friday with a good mindset and wanted to have a lighter approach to things as she tried to climb the leaderboard.
“I feel like the biggest compliment you can give a golfer is that they’re tough and gritty. I was pretty upset after yesterday. I just tried to go out and play how I know I can play and just play more free and do what I can do to move up,” Henderson said. “I feel like I did that, which is great.”
Henderson opened with three birdies on her front nine, including two in a row on Nos. 8 and 9, before adding two more on her back nine for her first clean card of the week.
Henderson was waffling about going for the green on the par-5 finisher but ultimately decided to go for it. Even though the shot wasn’t far, only 204 yards she said, the wind was strong, the greens were not holding, and there was water all around the putting surface.
“There were a lot of factors that maybe would have advised not to go for it, but I felt like I had a good opportunity, and I felt pretty confident in the swing,” Henderson said. “I’m glad that it held on there, and it was an easy two-putt.”
It’s set to be a spectacular finish at Le Golf National in the final round, with 10 golfers within three shots of a medal finish. Morgane Metraux of Switzerland and Lydia Ko of New Zealand lead at 9 under, while American Rose Zhang and Japan’s Miyu Yamashita are tied for third at 7 under.
Ko is looking to complete her medal collection with a gold – having won silver and bronze in the prior two Olympic golf competitions – and also stamp her spot in the LPGA’s Hall of Fame. She said this week she deleted her Instagram and needed to find something else to do, so she watched the Simone Biles documentary and wrote down a few inspiring quotes including, most appropriate of all, “I get to write my own ending.”
“Sometimes we get carried on about things that we can’t control, and if I can do a good job of the things that I can control, the rest is out of my hands. And I always say, I want to like be the one that’s determining my fate and my ending and how I end my career, my round, and that just like sunk in with me a lot,” Ko said.
Among the chasing pack are former world No. 1s Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand at 6 under, one back of the bronze position, and China’s Ruoning Yin at 4 under. Mariajo Uribe of Colombia, who is playing in her final event ever (she is set to retire after the Olympics) is at 5 under. She was leading before making two bogeys in her final four holes.
And then there’s current world No. 1 Nelly Korda, who is looking to follow in fellow American Scottie Scheffler’s footsteps and stage a hearty comeback for gold – and successfully defend her title from Tokyo. Korda is 4 under and five back of the lead.
“I’m giving myself a chance. As of right now, I think I’m (five) back, so anything can happen,” Korda said. “Scottie was (six) back […] and he ended up winning.”
Like Korda, Henderson is, well, fired up, to take on Le Golf National one more time and make one final addition to Canada’s medal total.
“If I can just do what I did today, I feel like I’m in a good spot,” Henderson said. “I’m going to try to play smart whenever I can, and if I have an opportunity to make birdie, I’m going to take it.”
