LOS ANGELES: Canadian teenager Brooke Henderson held off a host of challengers at the Women's PGA Championship Friday to seize a share of the halfway lead on the difficult tree-lined Sahalee Country Club course.
The 18-year-old Canuck is tied with Lee Mi-Rim of South Korea at two-under par 140 as just five golfers in the 156 player field have managed sub-par rounds after the first two rounds.
First round leader Henderson fired a two-over 73 and at one point she had a three-shot lead on the field at the Seattle, Washington-area golf course.
But she stumbled to back-to-back bogeys on number four and number five which allowed different players to take turns at making a move on her lead.
"I was one-under through four, and was feeling pretty good," said Henderson. "I got a little too aggressive to a couple of pins early, which kind of cost me a couple of bogeys."
American Gerina Piller also took a brief one-shot lead at one point but bogeyed three of her first five holes on the back nine. She bounced back with a pair of birdies down the stretch and also finished with a two-under 69.
Lee birdied the par-four, 425-yard 12th hole to move past Henderson by a stroke.
Then Lee slipped up with a bogey on the final hole to finish at two-under 69, tied in third place with three others. On Friday, just four players shot sub-par rounds.
"I hit really good today," she said. "I think keeping the driver in the fairway was the biggest key."
Piller, whose husband Martin Piller plays on the PGA Tour, sits in a three-way tie for third with world number one Lydia Ko, New Zealand, and Brittany Lincicone at one-under 141.
The 19-year-old Ko has already won 10 career tournaments -- including one major.
"The course is tough. And I think all the players realize that."
Those that teed off in the afternoon Friday had to deal with wind and rain. Weather forecasters are predicting showers on Saturday.
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