LPGA Tour CP Women's Open final leaderboard http://www.lpga.com/tournaments/cp-womens-open/leaderboard
She didn't just squeak in, nobody else blew it letting her in the back door. Brooke Henderson made 9 birdies including 4 in a row from 12 through 15 on Sunday to pull away from, and with 4 rounds of 66 66 70 65 -21, to dominate a world class field and win her national championship, the CP Women's Open, the only Canadian to do so since Jocelyne Bourassa 45 years ago.
Only 20 years old, she rose to the occasion to win for family and country under the most intense pressure. She joins Sandra Post, Marlene Streit, Moe Norman, George Knudsen, Mike Weir etal as Canadian golfing icons and she's just getting started.
She now joins Ariya Jutanugarn, and Sung Hyun Park in the player of the year race.
For the record she won by 4 shots over American Angel Yin 68 -17 and by 6 over Jennifer Song 67 -15. Mo Martin had the low round of the day -10 62 T13.
Alena Sharp 71 70 70 71 -6 T36, Anne Catherine Tanguay 70 71 70 73 -4 T36 were the other Canadian scores.
As I wrote earlier last week Brooke warmed up by firing a 63 in the final round of the Indy Women in Tech Championship in Indianapolis and carried that form to Regina.
“I definitely feel like it was meant to be this week. Everything just kind of seemed to fall my way and I feel like when you win on the LPGA Tour, it is so difficult that you kind of need those breaks and you kind of need that feeling that it’s yours and I had that this week, which is really cool. I knew it wasn’t over until basically 18, but I just had that good feeling..
This was like the first time ever that I’ve played my absolute best in front of the hometown crowd and on home soil. I just tried to be kind of laser-focused, focusing on the next shot, what I had to do and to make putts, to make birdies. It was really fun. It was really exciting. I think I did a really good job of that, of just not really letting outside things bother me too much."
What a moment as she posed with the trophy with her dad/coach Dave, mother Darlene and sister/caddy Brittany. Her story is really a family affair, and always will be. "I think just all the hard work that my family has put into this, my dad and my coach, my mom, my best supporter, and my sister, who’s also my caddie. This was a big dream and a big goal for all of us and I think it’s just a cumulative effort of all of us that gave me the chance to be able to lift that trophy"
She summed up how it is also a country wide affair. “To hear my name and then to hear O Canada right after, yeah, just an incredible experience overall. I don’t know, 10 minutes from when I hit my second shot in on 18 to when I made that putt and when the celebrations all happened, those are the things that I’ll remember forever"
With her next victory, she will tie Sandra Post for most wins by a Canadian on the LPGA Tour with eight, which also equals the late George Knudsen and Mike Weir for wins by Canadians on the PGA Tour, and with that in mind the tour moves further west to Portland this week where Brooke won in 2015 and 2016.
Like I said with seven wins, she's just getting started, but she is already our Canadian superstar.
Bryan Angus.
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