Canada’s Henderson confident she’ll regain her winning touch
• It’s the final round of the Manulife LPGA Classic and 19-year-old Canadian star Brooke Henderson is none too pleased with herself.
She has just pulled a tee shot slightly to the left and into the rough on the par- 4 fourth hole and she slams her driver against the ground in disgust before roughly shoving it into her bag.
Seven strokes back to begin the day, Henderson is trying to make a run up the leaderboard. But a bogeybirdie- par start — and now this — isn’t quite what she’s looking for, and her reaction is natural for an athlete who expects only the best from herself.
Henderson goes on to pick up another bogey, a result that in many ways is a microcosm of a frustrating week for her at Whistle Bear Golf Club in Cambridge, Ont.
It’s a week filled with lively conversations with Brittany, her caddy and sister, regarding club selection, mumblings under her breath over mis- hit approach shots and blown birdie chances, and refused interviews with media.
On a windy Sunday, it all adds up to a roller coaster 1- under- par 71 t hat i ncludes six bogeys, five birdies and an eagle — nowhere near good enough to catch eventual champion Ariya Jutanugarn, who cards a 17-under for the tournament and wins it on the first extra hole of a three-way playoff.
But, still, Henderson grinds out an 11-under total, good enough for a tie for 11th — beating her former best mark, a tie for 25th, at this tournament accomplished as a 15- year- old amateur in 2013 — and top- Canadian honours.
“Obviously, I’m a little bit disappointed,” the Smiths Falls, Ont., native told a gaggle of reporters.
“But (tied for) 11th, I can’t complain too much.”
And, yet, in some ways Henderson could be left lamenting what might have been. She drove the ball well all week and hit many a green in regulation but her putting, like it has for much of this season, left something to be desired.
“I missed a lot of putts today,” Henderson said after Sunday’s round. “I’ ve switched putters five or six times this year already, so I’m searching. A lot of golfers switch all the time just trying to find that spark.”
Henderson took a grand total of 122 putts over the week; that’s 30.5 putts per r ound. When compared to champion Jutanugarn’s 108- putt total, it’s obvious there is work to be done.
“It comes and goes a little bit,” says Henderson, who is ranked 80th in putting average this season. “You have to stay patient and you have to work hard on it.”
In comparison, she is ranked 18th in average driving distance and 20th in greens reached in regulation.
It hasn’t exactly been a banner year for the sophomore, who has two top-10 finishes through 14 events, well behind her pace of nine top-10 finishes through 14 events during her astonishing rookie campaign in which she won twice, including a major at the KPGM Women’s PGA Championship, making her the secondyoungest player to win a major. And it leaves open for discussion the opinion of some that it’s time for Henderson to move on from her sister as caddy and father, Dave, as coach.
But Henderson says she’s close, that her game is on the upswing. The results haven’t been there yet, but they are coming.
“I feel like my game is so close to being so, so great,” says Henderson, who briefly climbed to No. 2 in the world last summer but now sits at No. 15.
Henderson will get a chance to back up those words i n Grand Rapids, Mich., t his week at t he Meijer LPGA Classic. Perhaps with the distractions of Canada behind her she can find the form that has made her a three- time winner on tour. Henderson admitted this past week that being the face of golf in this country can be an emotional and physical drain.
“I’ll work hard on the putting green over the next few days and hopefully in Meijer I’ll play a little bit better,” she says.