Henderson confident her golf game ‘extremely close’ to coming around
CAMBRIDGE, ONT. Like all successful athletes, Brooke Henderson is more focused on the future than the past.
So it wasn’t surprising to hear the 19-year-old Canadian star say her best golf is still in front of her this season.
“There has been a lot of golf played so far, but there is a lot of golf still left,” a relaxed-looking Henderson said as she took centre stage at Whistle Bear Golf Club this week to talk about her 2017 campaign, what lies ahead, and what she hopes to accomplish at the Manulife LPGA Classic, which begins Thursday.
“There’s four majors still left, and I have the chance to go and defend my first major championship in a few weeks down at Olympia Fields, and then I have a chance to go and defend in Portland again for the third time later this summer,” the three-time LPGA Tour winner added. “So those are two weeks I’ll definitely want to peak for … If I can crack the top-10 in the next couple months that would make me really happy. Then we’ll just kind of regroup and see how we go from there.”
It hasn’t exactly been a banner year for Henderson, not that two top-10 finishes as a sophomore are anything to sneeze at. But when you’re already an LPGA major winner, it falls short of expectations, especially when you consider what the Smiths Falls native accomplished during her full rookie campaign last season.
“Coming off such a great high last year, it’s been a little bit disappointing, but I feel like my game is extremely close,” said Henderson, who climbed to No. 2 in the world rankings last summer.
Through 13 events this season, Henderson has the two top-10 finishes — a tie for fourth at the HSBC Women’s Champions and a tie for ninth at the Lorena Ochoa Match Play — and a tie for 14th at the ANA Inspiration, the first major of the year, as well as seven other top-25s. As good as those results are, they are well behind her pace of nine top-10 finishes through 13 events as a rising rookie in 2016.
But the world No. 15 seems unfazed.
“I feel like my ball-striking has been the best maybe it’s ever been the last few weeks. I’m really excited,” Henderson said. “When everything comes together I can get a top-five, top-three, and maybe a win in a few weeks.
“My game is extremely close. Sports are such a fine line, and I’m just hoping I can cross that line and perform a little bit better.”
Henderson might not be far off in her assessment. When you compare her stats from last season to this year, not much has changed. So maybe that translates into some better results sooner rather than later.
Henderson had climbed into a tie for eighth at last week’s ShopRite Classic, only to see her chances slip away when she fired a 4-over 75 on Sunday. Henderson is looking to improve her putting and her short game.
“If I had a couple putts drop early on Sunday then it could have been a different story.” she said. “It was really windy, tough conditions. I wasn’t feeling my best. Things kind of got off to a shaky start. I birdied the last hole, so that’s good momentum for this week.”
Henderson is among 13 Canadians looking to become the first homegrown player to win the event, now in its sixth year.
“Playing in front of the hometown crowd I definitely want to put on a good show. Hopefully I get off to a fast start Thursday and Friday and get into the final groups
on the weekend and cause some excitement,” said Henderson, who has never done particularly well at this tournament, her best finish coming as a 15-year-old amateur when she tied for 35th in 2013.
She’ll be joined at the 6,613-yard rolling layout by some tough competition. Henderson, who starts on the 10th tee Thursday at 1:32 p.m., is partnered with world No. 2 Ariya Jutanugarn and No. 6 Shanshan Feng. World No. 4 Lexi Thompson, one of the more exciting players on the tour, is in the field, as is last week’s winner In-Kyung Kim and defending champion Caroline Masson.
Masson picked up her first win on the LPGA Tour last year at Whistle Bear, defeating Karine Icher, Minjee Lee and Mi Hyang Lee by one stroke. Masson started the day three shots back of the lead and shot a final round 6-under 66 for the victory.
“Obviously this week is really special to me,” Masson said. “It’s my first time defending and, yeah, I’m just trying to soak it all in and trying to bring back those memories and those feelings that I had last year winning.”
Past winners Brittany Lang (2012) and Suzann Pettersen (2015) are also in the field.