Brooke Henderson was not about to be a part of the major absences from this week’s LPGA Lotte Championship.

The 25-year-old from Ontario, Canada, loves Hawaii, and she’s had success at the event. There was no way she was going to skip out of the Lotte as many of the other top players on tour did.

Henderson shot a 3-under-par 69 to move into a tie for ninth place at 6-under 210 after Friday’s third round at Hoakalei Country Club.

“I hit a lot of greens. I had a lot of good birdie looks and made them early, which was fun,” Henderson said. “They weren’t really too far either, so it was kind of nice to have the ball-striking a little bit more how I normally hit it. And then was able to roll in those putts, so it was good.”

Henderson is No. 7 in the Rolex Rankings, the highest-ranked player at Hoakalei. She won the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Orlando in late January.

The top six in the rankings opted not to play this week with the season’s first major, The Chevron Championship, looming next week in The Woodlands, Texas.

The Chevron is the first of five LPGA majors and was previously played prior to Lotte.

“Yeah, I love this event. It’s been really good to me,” said Henderson, a two-time Lotte winner. “It’s just such a beautiful place to spend the week, so I always really enjoy it.

“I really like to play before majors, kind of get my game rolling and in good shape. I think this tournament and this championship is a great way to do that because it’s very challenging, especially with these conditions.”

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Henderson was 4 under on the front nine Friday, with birdies on Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7, and a bogey on the fourth.

She’s 7 under for the tournament on the front nine.

“Yeah, the front nine was a lot of fun. I was making a lot of birdies and giving myself a lot of good opportunities,” she said.

Henderson carried over her hot play from the second round when she birdied the 17th and 18th.

“To get those two birdies and then to go into the front nine as I did today, I just had a lot of momentum, a lot of good vibes,” Henderson said. “Things were going pretty well.”

She cooled off on the back nine with a birdie on No. 10, but made bogey on No. 13 and the difficult par-4 17th, which she double bogeyed in the first round.

“Unfortunately dropped a couple shots here on the back nine,” Henderson said. “Hopefully just go out there and do the same thing the first nine holes and just clean this up a little bit.”

Henderson, who lives in Naples, Fla., won the Lotte in 2018 and 2019, both at Ko Olina Golf Club. She turned pro in 2014 and is playing in her seventh Lotte.

Henderson is three shots behind leader Yu Jin Sung, who is at 9-under 207. There is a three-way tie for second at 208 and a four-way tie for fifth at 209.

Henderson is tied with four others for ninth, including rookie Bailey Tardy, who made her first LPGA Tour cut Thursday.

On Friday, Tardy had the best round of the tournament so far, a bogey-free 7-under 65 to move up from a tie for 46.

“My ball-striking was really great today,” Tardy said. “Hit 16 greens, so I think you’re probably going to shoot low if you hit that many greens.

“Honestly, I stuck probably four or five within 3 to 5 feet, so I had some short birdie putts and really took advantage of those.”

Tardy was coming off a 5 over in the second round.

“You just come out here, it’s a brand new day,” she said. “I think I didn’t have the greatest attitude yesterday on the golf course, so really focusing on my attitude. Whether it’s good or bad, I’m just trying to stay level-minded, and that’s what I did today.”