Icher in lead at Canadian Women’s Open

Ko laughed when asked if she would share any winnings with Icher.

Henderson finished eight shot ahead of three golfers who tied for second, the largest margin of victory in tournament history, two better than those of Juli Inkster (1999) and Ayako Okamoto (1986), who won under a 54-hole format. “Just have fun out there tomorrow”.

Icher, who grabbed the first-round lead with a seven-under 65 late in the day on Thursday, knows she won’t be getting any gift-wrapped first-place cheques from Ko this weekend.

“That was my first bogey in two days”. “I am actually feeling quite comfortable with where I am at right now”.

The 34-year-old Taiwanese player had an 11-under 133 total at Vancouver Golf Club.

“It was a tricky up-and-down”, she said. “I left some shots out there, but I have lots to look forward to on the weekend”. She made the cut and thinks with a few improvements she can advance up the leaderboard Saturday.

But all this will come to her, in time. She has a tour-high four victories this season.

The world No 2 was in complete control of her swing on Sunday and would have had the outright lead but for one poor shot; she mishit her approach at the par-four 18th and left it in the right greenside bunker, failing to get up-and-down for par. “You never know what’s going to happen, I just have to play my own game”.

She’ll learn to handle the demands on her time, too. I just need to be confident and hit good shots, stay positive. But they were there pretty much from the get go.

France’s Karine Icher (72) was fourth at 9 under, and Spain’s Azahara Munoz (70) was another stroke back.

“When you make some birdies like that in a row, you have more and more confidence, ” Icher said.

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp is the top Canadian. “So I just pick the tee up and when I turn around I saw my caddie, big smiling face, telling me the ball is in the hole”.

“Coming back to Canada was pretty cool, and being able to celebrate with the whole country was really good as well”.

Sharp has one top-10 finish this year and has won US$131,375.

Brooke Henderson, of Smiths Falls, Ont., had five bogeys, including a pair back-to-back, to shoot a 75, leaving her at 1 over.

Henderson bogeyed the second hole, then hit into the water on No. 3 and made a double bogey.

“I played really solid”, said Ko, 18, of Auckland.

While Henderson says she doesn’t feel any pressure on the golf course, there certainly has been a lot of it placed on her in this tournaments.

Having her older sister Brittany caddie Saturday helped iron out some of the wrinkles in her round.

“Same conditions, just different crowd”, Henderson said.