GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The only person who smelled of champagne more than Brooke Henderson Sunday evening was her father, Dave.
On Father’s Day, Henderson, the 21-year-old wunderkind, captured her ninth LPGA Tour title. It’s the most ever by a Canadian on either the LPGA or PGA Tours, and she made history. But history, is, well, just getting started.
Dave Henderson, who played golf himself at a decent level in Smiths Falls, Ont. but spent his life as a school teacher, has been honing Brooke’s swing since she was able to first follow sister Brittany (now her caddie) to the nine-hole course near their summer cottage, about 90 minutes southwest of Ottawa, or to their local course in Smiths Falls.
Brooke, as a youngster, would chase after golf balls thinking that the first person to get to the ball in the hole was a winner. Brittany and Dave would look away and Brooke would be running full-tilt to get her ball in the hole. She’d then stand with her hands on her hips if she hit her ball off-line by a couple yards.
Now he’s seen his youngest daughter become the winningest male or female Canadian golfer on the biggest tours in the world.
“It was fantastic,” said Dave, the remnants of a Californian rosé brut still on his shirt. “Brooke at every level has won tournaments. She was No. 1 amateur. To see that growth all those years, well, (golf) is a process-oriented thing, and we’re always looking at the next thing, but we’re very proud of Brooke.”
Sunday in Grand Rapids, Dave was doing his usual routine of following Brooke ahead of everyone else. He was a math guy, and he played the percentages and the probabilities. He knows where Brooke’s next shots are usually going to be.
“Brooke is able to change what she does from venue to venue,” said Dave, “and that’s what makes her special.”
Win #9!! #CanadianRecord #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/sxx7RNsotf
— Brooke Henderson (@BrookeHenderson) June 16, 2019
But Dave was calculating the probabilities Sunday a little later than he probably would have liked.
Brooke started the day with birdies on Nos. 4 and 6, but the rest of the leaderboard was chock full of challengers, and they weren’t backing down.
Multi-time LPGA Tour winner Nasa Hataoka fired a 7-under-par 65. Su Oh was 5-under through nine holes. Brittany Altomare shot 4-under 68, while Lexi Thompson made eagle on the 72nd hole.
They all, however, finished at 20-under, one shot back of Henderson.
She just needed to make par on 18, a straightaway par-5, and she three-putted. But she made that par. She got choked up. Her father raised her hands in the air. Fellow Canadian Alena Sharp was there for a big hug — and more tears — along with Sharp’s caddie Sarah Bowman.
After Henderson fired the 36-hole course record through the first two rounds (her back-to-back 64’s were punctuated with an ace in the first round) she wasn’t able to keep the momentum going over the weekend. But it was enough.
“Everything was kind of going really easily for me the first two days. I was making a lot of birdies and really I felt like I could have shot a lot better than 8-under both those rounds. Just the way things were going, things were easy,” she said. “Then today I was just trying to make birdies. They weren’t seemed to be falling, but it was just good enough to stay ahead of the crowd.”
This was Henderson’s second win on the LPGA Tour of 2019 — she defended her title at the LOTTE Championship in Hawaii earlier this year — and the Meijer LPGA Classic is one she’s won before, too.
She says, specifically, this week’s layout reminded her of courses in Canada — similar grass and tree-lined fairways — but she says nothing makes her feel more comfortable than having had success.
“You kind of come in here knowing that you have a good opportunity to do the same thing,” she said, “and I think that kind of gets me excited and looking forward to the week maybe a little bit more.”
Henderson now looks ahead to next week at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship — she has finished no worse than T-6 at that major — and defending her title at the CP Women’s Open in August. The question for Henderson, at 21, with nine LPGA Tour titles and money and fame and influence, is how far can she go?
Just watch her.
Every week on the LPGA Tour she gains more confidence. She should be ranked much higher in the world, but is a victim of how much she plays. This week a hot start and a hot putter meant she was unbeatable.
Not only that, but she’s healthy. And her family support is rock solid.
“After good health, we probably rank family as number two of what we do,” said Dave. “We cherish that, and hopefully that’ll always continue: good health and family.”
And by the looks of it, good golf is going to continue, too.
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June 17, 2019 at 06:49AM
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