LPGA Tour KPMG Women's PGA Championship final leaderboard http://www.europeantour.com/seniortour/season=2016/tournamentid=2016850/leaderboard/index.html
"I’m happy with the way I played. I just got outplayed. For Brooke to shoot 65 on the final day at a major, at a course like this is very impressive.”
Those were the words of the world's #1, Lydia Ko who went out and posted a 67 in her quest for a third consecutive major championship, but in the story of the year here in Canada, Brooke Henderson got her 10th top 10 in 11 starts, but this time it was the break through win she so richly deserves, after she overcame a 3 shot deficit on the back nine as she closed with a bogey-free -6 65, the best round of the week at Sahalee to join Ko at -6-under 278 forcing a playoff which she won on the first hole.
At 18 she became the second-youngest winner in a major championship, with Ko the youngest last year in the Evian Championship in France, and she did it in style.
Remember she started the week with a hole in one on her way to a 67 for the first round lead then shot 73 73 in tough weather on this very tight Sahalee CC, to begin Sunday two strokes behind Ko.
She was playing great, going out in -2 but then came her eagle at the par 5 11th, which Ko followed with a birdie but Brooke kept the pressure on with a birdie at the 13th to stay one shot behind. "We needed to go on a birdie run or something so that sort of jump started us and we were able to keep going," said Brittany Henderson, her sister's caddie.
Then came another bomb from Brooke, a 50-foot birdie putt on the par 3 17th to Lydia's par and they were all square and stayed that way with pars on the 18th, forcing a playoff. She played the back nine in 31.
Playing the 18th in the playoff Henderson hit another solid drive, then her second shot from 155 yards was one she will always remember, under pressure to 3 feet, while Ko’s second left her with 20 feet. Ko missed to the left, and Henderson tapped in, to join Sandra Post as the only Canadian woman to win a major. Post's win came in 1968. Henderson will move to world #2 later this morning.
"To think about all of the incredible players that have come before me," Henderson said. "I was reading some of the names on this trophy and it's very, very cool."
It was a day of great drama, consider Ariya Jutanugarn, in search of a fourth straight victory, shot a 66 to finish a stroke back and she just missed a birdie putt on the 18th that could have put her into the playoff. She along with Lydia and Henderson played a combined 56 holes without a bogey between them, but this week no one was better than Brooke and there is much more to come as she summed it all up like this.
"Looking forward to the rest of the summer. There's still three major championships left. I'd like to get my name on all three of those,"
Bryan Angus
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