MIXED EMOTIONS FOR HENDERSON AT SEASON FINALE
New championship format fails to reward young Canadian’s consistent excellence
All the stars of women’s golf will be out this week at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship.
The tournament has been revamped this year with the top 60 players competing for an LPGA Tour record purse of $5 million, with $1.5 million going to the winner.
Canada’s Brooke Henderson — who ranks second in the yearlong Race to CME Globe standings — tees off Thursday at Florida’s Tiburon Resort in the marquee group of the day.
She’ll play the first two rounds with World No. 1 Jin Young Ko and Minjee Lee.
Henderson has two wins and seven top-5s this season and has been the most consistent player on the LPGA since joining the tour in 2015.
The Canadian star is the only player with multiple wins in each of the past four seasons. At 22 years old, she has already collected nine wins, one major championship, and 51 top-10s.
The trio of Ko, Henderson, and Lee rank 1-2-3 in the season standings. Come Thursday none of that matters.
Unlike years past, the points accumulated throughout the season are wiped away for this final week, with all players beginning on an even playing field.
The new format does away with the $1-million bonus for winning the CME Race to Globe, instead rolling that money into the tour championship purse.
Whether this is good or bad is open to debate.
The raised purse allows the LPGA and tournament organizers to boast about having a tournament that rivals the men’s game in prize money. This works nicely into a gender equality theme that more and more is becoming an issue in sports.
On the other side, it’s a little unfair to players at the top of the standings that what used to be a season-long pursuit has turned into a four-day sprint.
When we spoke late last week, Henderson seemed to have mixed feeling about the new format.
“When they first announced it at this time last year I was a little disappointed, just because it took away the consistency and all the success that you needed during the season to be in the top five or the top three to get really rewarded if you played well at the CME,” she said.
“In previous years, I worked really hard to get my ranking near the top to have an opportunity to win the bonus prize.”
Henderson has been doing her best to come around to the new format, and sees some positives, even if the old format was more likely to work out in her favour.
“I think it definitely raises the bar, having such a huge prize for a season-ending tournament,” she said. “I think, for the fans, it maybe adds a little bit. I’ve really been trying to change my thinking on it and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to post four really solid rounds. CME does a great job trying to grow the women’s game and the sport. It’s something special.”
It’s an exciting time on the LPGA Tour. Henderson, Ko and Lee are all under age 25.
A win this week by Ko, 24, would cap off a dominating run. The South Korean has won four times, including two majors and the CP Women’s Open at Magna Golf Club.
She also broke a record held by Tiger Woods when she went 114 holes without a bogey during a stretch that included her stop in Canada.
Lee, 23, from Perth, Australia, has a win and nine top-10s this year, and enters the week coming off a third-place finish and a runner-up over her past two events.
Henderson is looking for her first three-win season after winning the LOTTE Championship in April and the Meijer LPGA Classic in June.
Her scoring average this year is a career low 69.61, fourth-best on tour.
“After I won twice so early, I was hoping maybe I could get that third one,” Henderson said. “Maybe this week.”
Since arriving on tour, the Smiths Falls, Ont. native has always played one of the busiest schedules and she’s looking forward to spending a couple weeks home with her family in Canada over Christmas.
“Golf is definitely a mental game and it can wear on you week in and week out,” she said.
“There are a lot of ups and downs. One day you hit it great and the next day you wonder what happened, but I love the game. I have a lot of fun out there everyday, but when you’re shooting low scores and winning it’s a lot more fun.”
Henderson, Ko, and Lee begin the opening round of the CME Group Tour Championship at 11:18 a.m. on Thursday.