On a weekend when the whole of Canada was celebrating itself, Brooke Henderson was climbing the leaderboard at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and giving the country yet another reason to celebrate her, too.
Henderson finished the LPGA Tour’s second major of the year – a title she was defending – just one shot back of winer Danielle Kang’s winning score of 13-under after making birdies on the final two holes.
Henderson, 19, used her considerable power and vastly improved short game to post an impressive bogey-free 66 on Sunday at Olympia Fields in Illinois.
“I did feel like I did have a chance, a really good chance, and I felt like my game was in such a great spot,” Henderson told reporters after the round Sunday. “I was hitting my driver great, hitting a lot of fairways, giving myself lots of opportunities for my second shots.
“My putter was awesome. I made two pretty long ones and was keeping me in it all day, a lot of 15-foot putts that came up to just tap-in range, so the putter was a really big key for me today.”
Although she fell short of her second career major (and her fifth LPGA Tour victory at just 19 years-old), the fact that Henderson overpowered a major championship venue and showed no fear down the stretch once again proves she is one of Canada’s most exciting athletes.
If you disagree, you probably haven’t seen Henderson play.
It starts on the tee. She pulls driver as often as possible and chokes down on it because, at 43 inches long, it’s the longest allowed by the rules of golf. Henderson’s power, to borrow a phrase, can’t be stopped. It can only be contained.
Her lower body harnesses an energy most golfers – male or female – can only dream of. On a tight Olympia Fields Country Club, Henderson averaged about 270 yards off the tee for the week. Henderson knocked in an 18-foot birdie try on 17 to get within one of Kang’s lead Sunday before smashing a drive on No. 18, and blasting a 3-wood to 30 feet on the par-5 18th. Her ensuing eagle try took a big hop off right off the putter before ending up just two revolutions short of falling in.
She tapped in for birdie and briefly shared the lead before Kang eventually tapped in a birdie of her own for the win.
Earlier in the week, Henderson played in a pro-am with Bo Jackson and baseball Hall of Famer Greg Maddux. Jackson, who was once named to the NFL’s Pro Bowl and MLB’s all-star game, gave Henderson a nickname after playing with her, ‘Showtime.’
“That’s just pure talent. Pure talent, that’s all that is,” Jackson told the Toronto Sun on Tuesday of his playing partner.
Like Connor McDavid leading a rush or Andre DeGrasse approaching the midway mark during the 100-metres, you can’t help but tune in when Henderson tees it up because you just want to see what she does.
How far will she hit it? What line will she take off the tee? Will she make a putt that she really shouldn’t?
It’s early, but should she continue on this track she has the opportunity to become not just Canada’s most successful golfer, but also one of its greatest athletes, period.
Although she didn’t win Sunday, Henderson will have another chance to win a second career major before her 20th birthday soon enough, as the LPGA Tour plays the U.S. Women’s Open in New Jersey in just two weeks time.
Another major on the horizon? Showtime.
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