Brooke Henderson made history Sunday, winning the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship near Seattle, Washington in the United States The victory puts the 18 year-old Canadian in the international spotlight.
Jim Thompson, chief sport officer for Golf Canada, the organization that oversees the game here, said “we had high hopes for Brooke”. Henderson finished the tournament with a bogey-free six-under 65, the best round of the week at the challenging, tree-lined Sahalee Country Club. Then she beat Lydia Ko, the Korean-born New Zealander who’s now the first-ranked 19-year-old LPGA star, with a brilliant birdie on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff.
Listen“I’d like to say that I am the Canadian face of women’s golf, and I like to say I’m a good athlete for Canada.”
Brooke Henderson’s victory is only the second by a Canadian woman; Sandra Post won the same tournament in 1968, almost 50 years ago. In true competitive spirit Henderson said following the game, “I would have liked to the youngest ever to win a major championship, but to the youngest ever to win this one is a good second-best.”
“It’s definitely a big confidence boost to get that world ranking up to No. 2, and it’s kind of surreal and unbelievable, but I’ve got another spot to go,” Henderson said during a teleconference yesterday with Canadian media. “This summer, there are still three other majors, the Olympics and lots of tournaments left to play, so I want to keep becoming a better person and a better golfer.”
Thompson says Henderson has a lot going for her. She’s been one to watch for some time. “She graduated out of amateur golf as the number one amateur in the world.” he says, describing her as “ahead of her time.”
She has a close-knit family to support her. In fact her playing began watching her older sister Brittany, play the game. Thompson remembers the first time he saw Brooke, in 2002 after a national amateur championship at which her sister who is six years older, was playing. “When they were finished on the range she proceeded to pick up her sister’s club and was just driving balls down the middle of the fairway, and everybody was looking at who is this young girl?”
“I have big dreams, big goals ahead of me.”
Thompson says along with the natural talent, she has the inner confidence to carry the pressure. He says the challenge now will be to manage her time, as everyone is going to want a lot more of it.
Following Sunday’s championship, Henderson handled the media with aplomb, and calmly responded to a question asserting her identity, “I’d like to say that I am the Canadian face of women’s golf, and I like to say I’m a good athlete for Canada.”
The young woman, who grew up in Smiths Falls, Ontario, is a well-balanced Canadian athlete. When she wasn’t sinking balls in the summer, she was keeping pucks out, as a goalie playing hockey during the winter.
Her next challenge is the upcoming Olympics in Rio. She has worked hard and is aiming to bring home the gold, this year and in four years from now. As she told an interviewer from CBC Sports, “I have big dreams, big goals ahead of me.”
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