Brooke Henderson moved into a tie for second at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on Friday after a 4-under 68 that left her five shots behind Ina Yoon with two rounds to play. She finished her second round with three birdies in a row and kept herself in the hunt at a major she has won before.
That is the kind of position Henderson has been trying to find again. She said it was nice to see her name on the leaderboard after becoming an aunt on Thursday, and this week has already produced her best chance in a while to turn a promising round into a weekend push. She has only one top-10 finish this season, so being in the mix at the end of the second round matters more than a normal leaderboard climb.
The round was built on control. Henderson was first in strokes gained: tee to green through two days, with more than five strokes gained to the field, and she has hit 82 per cent of her fairways and more than 77 per cent of her greens in regulation so far. On Friday, after a bogey on the par-3 4th, she steadied herself and made three birdies in a row on Nos. 7-9 to close the day at 2 under for the tournament.
Her own explanation for the turnaround points to the work done away from the course as much as the swings on it. Henderson said she and her team have spent the last few months trying to minimize errors and get her game back into a better place, with her sister, her new caddie Ryan Henderson, and her dad all helping to sort through the details. She said they have been picking smart spots off the fairway and into the greens and executing them better, which has given her more birdie looks and a little more freedom on a difficult course.
That improvement has not erased the bigger problem. Henderson has said she has felt close to her old form through 2026, but this season has still been uneven, and the ball-striking gains this week have arrived against the backdrop of just one top-10 finish so far. Still, she has now made 12 straight cuts at the Women's PGA Championship and has five career top-10s in the event, which is enough to make this weekend a real test rather than a cameo.
For Henderson, the equation is simple now. She has the ball-striking she wanted, a place near the top of the board, and two rounds left to make up five shots. If she keeps hitting the same spots and keeps the birdies coming, the gap to Ina Yoon is close enough to matter.
