Brooke Henderson has been quick to admit that through 2026, she’s felt close. That her game was nearly back to what it had long been like in her career.
Through two days at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, she has returned.
Henderson has got some ground to make up over the weekend as she sits five shots back of Ina Yoon, but the Canadian is tied for second after a second-round 4-under, 68.
“It’s halfway done. (Yoon) had a great first half, so hopefully I can just have a great second half to try to make up the difference,” Henderson said. “I feel like overall the way I've been playing the course has been really solid, so just hopefully make a few more birdies and climb the board.”
Henderson started on the back nine Friday and was 2 under for her opening stretch. She missed a few putts of less than 10 feet before making the turn and then bogeyed the par-3 4th, but closed with three birdies in a row on Nos. 7-9.
Despite some of the putting struggles, in a year where she knows she’s had a tough time with her ball-striking, she couldn’t be happier with her tee-to-green effort.
Henderson, who won this major in 2016 as her maiden major title, is first in strokes gained: tee to green so far, gaining more than five strokes to the field. She’s also hit 82 per cent of her fairways and more than 77 per cent of her greens in regulation. The opportunities keep coming, she just needs to keep converting.
“I think we’ve been picking great spots off the fairway and into the greens and I’ve been able to execute and hit those spots, which has been really nice, especially around a stressful golf course,” Henderson said. “You want to be able to be hitting your spots. So far, so good there. Just got to continue the next two days.
“Definitely very happy how I played so far in this championship. It's been nice to have the ball striking in a really good spot and give myself a lot of birdie looks. Nice to get three to finish. That really makes the round feel whole lot better.”
Henderson, who became an aunt on Thursday as her sister Brittany gave birth to a daughter, Sahalee, said that her team has tried to put in a lot of hard work over the last few months to get back into some semblance of consistency. Henderson has long been known as one of the best ball-strikers on the LPGA Tour, but she has so far recorded just one top-10 finish this season.
Last month, she decided to make things a family affair again and recruited her cousin, Ryan Henderson, to caddie for her.
“I think it's just been a team with my sister, my new caddie, Ryan, (and) my dad, trying to come up with stuff together and just trying to minimize errors and get it back to a spot. I feel like we worked really hard all together, so it's nice to see some improvement and nice to see some progress,” Henderson said.
Henderson, then, will find herself in somewhat unfamiliar territory – this season at least — in one of the final groups on a weekend on the LPGA Tour. This particular major is the one she’s long had the most success at, though – as her run of made cuts at the Women’s PGA Championship now hits 12 and she has recorded five top-10 finishes in her career – and now she’s looking for even more weekend success.
“It's fun to see my name on the leaderboard again,” Henderson said, “and so hopefully have a good weekend. Really looking forward to it.”
