The Marshalltown junior is three strokes off the lead after the first day of the Class 4A girls state golf tournament at Otter Creek Golf Course in Ankeny.

Henson shot a 2-over 73. Linn-Mar’s Morgan Rupp and Iowa City Liberty’s Isabella Pettersen are both at 1-under.

“I felt like I was definitely scrambling out there,” Henson said. “Two over, it’s not that bad, I was just hoping for something a little bit better.”

The second round is scheduled for an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start on Friday due to forecasted inclement weather. Marshalltown sits in 10th as a team with a 354 team score on Day 1; Pleasant Valley leads with a 315.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown’s Hallie Kuhlers chips onto the 18th green during Thursday’s opening round of play at the Class 4A girls state golf meet at Otter Creek Golf Course in Ankeny.

Starting her morning off the 10th tee, Henson birdied No. 11 as part of a 1-under start through the first nine holes.

“My driver was doing phenomenal on those first nine,” Henson said. “And I was making a lot of important putts.”

She bookended her final nine holes with back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 1 & 2 and again on Nos. 8 & 9, with a birdie on the par-5 No. 3 sandwiched in.

“My irons and pitches were the most off they’ve been all year, just really rough,” Henson said. “It was definitely making it a lot harder for me, and I was not getting it close enough to make those key birdies, either.”

Weather permitting, MHS head coach Lucas Johnson expects Henson to make a go at it on Friday.

“She knows that low round is out there, especially if the course is playable tomorrow,” Johnson said. “Probably another damp and wet day where we can attack pins. I know she was feeling good about her putter today so if we can roll in some putts, who knows what happens.”

Henson added, “I went in pretty confident and in a good place mentally, and it was great to have the whole team here. … I just need to get my irons and pitching in check, everything else was pretty solid.”

Gaby Estabrook (83), Harper Wilson (88) and Emma Clawson (110) had the other counting scores for the Bobcats. Hallie Kuhlers (113) and Hanna Osgood (125) had non-counting scores. It was the first state meet experience for all except Henson and Estabrook.

“We came here ranked 10th, so we before this we talked about how there weren’t high expectations placed on us,” Johnson said. “But we know what we are capable of, and I think we know day two holds a lot of chance for improvement. There were a few holes here and there that really jumped up and bit us from a scoring standpoint.

“The no-mow out here can be real penalizing. If there’s a point that we’ll make heading into tomorrow, it’s playing aggressively to conservative targets so that we take some of those bigger numbers out of play.”