Brooke Henderson shares lead after 2 rounds at Portland Classic

Defending champion Brooke Henderson and Sweden's Suzann Pettersen shared the lead at 11-under after Friday's second round of the LPGA Cambia Portland Classic.

Pettersen shot the day's low score with an 8-under 64, while Henderson, an 18-year-old Canadian who won her first LPGA Tour event last year in Portland, shot 68 at Columbia Edgewater.

Pettersen and Henderson, who have combined to win three of the past five Portland Classics, led by one stroke over Colombia's Mariajo Uribe, who shot 67.

Pettersen had eight birdies on a bogey-free card. Henderson caught Pettersen when she rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-4, 393-yard 18th hole.

"I finally had a fantastic putting day today. Finally. It's nice," Pettersen said. "The long game is good. I feel like when I putt well, I can put a good score. Today, I felt like I could make anything."

Henderson has shared or held Portland's outright lead the past five rounds, dating back to last year's second round.

"I really like this golf course. I like the Northwest. I've played pretty well on these courses," said Henderson, who won the Women's PGA Championship at Sahalee in Sammamish, Wash., three weeks ago.

Pettersen poised

Pettersen was no surprise on the Portland Classic leaderboard. She has posted top-five finishes in four of her past seven Portland tournaments, winning in 2011 and 2013.

"I just like it here. It's a lot of hard work that is finally starting to come together," said Pettersen, who has struggled with back problems and is looking for her first win in 13 months.

Austin Ernst, Pernilla Lindberg and Angela Stanford were five shots back at 6-under. Ernst, the 2014 Portland champion, shot a 66.

Pettersen was bidding to become the tournament's second three-time winner, joining Nancy Lopez, who won in 1985, 1987 and 1992. The Portland Classic is the LPGA Tour's longest-running non-major tournament, which is now in its 45th year.​

Henderson, who had five birdies and a bogey, thought she got the most out of her round.

"I didn't hit the ball as solidly as I'm used to. On this course, you kind of need to hit fairways and you need to hit greens. For the way I struck the ball, I scored extremely well," Henderson said.

Low-running shot

Henderson did most of her damage on the par-5s, making birdies on all four. But perhaps the best shot of Henderson's round came at the par-4, 393-yard 18th, where she hit her drive under a tree. With a lake directly between her ball and the hole, Henderson blasted a low-running 6-iron from about 165 yards to within 10 feet of the hole before nailing the birdie putt.

"That was definitely the high point of today's round," Henderson said.

Henderson, who earned her LPGA card shortly after winning at Portland last year, plays in Pettersen's group Saturday, just the second time the two have been paired.

"Along with Morgan Pressel, she was the one I really looked up to growing up and kind of wanted to be like," Henderson said.