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Cernousek shot an 8-under-par 64 at Columbia Edgewater Country Club, leaving her one stroke ahead of Gurleen Kaur, China’s Miranda Wang, two-time Portland champion Brooke M. Henderson of Canada and the South Korean duo of Jeongeun Lee5 and Sung Hyun Park.
After starting on the back nine and making one birdie and eight pars before the turn, Cernousek birdied Nos. 1, 4, 5 and 6 to charge up the leaderboard.
“No, I was just trying to do the same thing,” Cernousek said when asked if she played more aggressively closer to the greens on the back nine. “Like hit the fairways, get close to the pin and try to make the putts, like have good speed on the putts.”
She then registered an eagle at the par-5 No. 7 before closing with another birdie at No. 9 to break a six-way tie for first place.
“I think I was hitting the ball very well,” Cernousek said. “My caddie really helped me with distances. I think I always had like very close putts for birdie. I was able to make a lot of them, so it was great. I felt very good with my whole game, yeah.”
The 2024 individual NCAA champion for Texas A&M, Cernousek is making her 13th LPGA start. She has made cuts as a pro just three times, never ending up in the top 20.
South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai, Sweden’s Linn Grant, South Korea’s Haeran Ryu, Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol and France’s Perrine Delacour are two strokes back at 66.
Eight players, including past Portland winner Jin Young Ko of South Korea and amateur Kiara Romero, are tied for 12th at 67.
Henderson, the Portland champion in 2015 and 2016 at ages 17 and 18, opened and closed her round effectively on Thursday. Starting on the back nine, she birdied her first four holes, and she concluded her bogey-free rounds with birdies on three of the final five holes.
“It was a really awesome start, four birdies in a row,” Henderson said. “I mean, that’s an ideal start any week, especially here. I love coming back to this place. I do have a lot of the great memories. A lot of good things happened to me here.
“So just tried to keep it rolling after that great start and was able to capitalize with three birdies on the back nine to get a little bit closer to the top of the leaderboard.”
Lee5’s round included six birdies, a bogey and an eagle on her 10th hole of the day, at the par-4 No. 1.
Wang didn’t have a bogey on her card, and she ran off five birdies in a six-hole span on the back nine near the end of her round.
“My swing was very pure and I had so much trust in my swing,” Wang said. “That’s really helpful. I see the number and hit my shot and it just turn out really good. My putting was improved a lot over … the last few weeks. I was happy with it.”
Park and Kaur had just one bogey apiece.
Defending champion Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand is tied for 97th at 73.
–Field Level Media
