Henderson expecting good, tough weekend
Teen feels confident about title defence, Chris Stevenson says.
As Brooke Henderson finished off her last nine holes of preparation for the defence of her KPMG Women’s PGA Championship Wednesday, the strong wind had the flags atop the clock tower at Olympia Fields Country Club snapping fiercely.
If the wind keeps up like that, conditions will be tough, and that will be to Henderson’s advantage.
The 19-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., is on a roll, with both her game and confidence in good shape. She will tee off in the marquee group at 9:40 a.m. ET with world No. 2 Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand and American Alison Lee.
Henderson, ranked 12th, comes into her title defence riding a wave of confidence. She has won three times in a row when they’ve been keeping score.
She won her last start on the LPGA Tour, the Meijer LPGA Classic two weeks ago, for her fourth career win. Since, she’s also won a couple of pro-ams: the CVS Health Charity Classic with Keegan Bradley and Billy Andrade, and then Tuesday her group, which included two-sport all-star Bo Jackson, Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux and KPMG executive John Veihmeyer won the pro-am at Olympia Fields, south of Chicago.
“I feel like my game is in a great place right now,” Henderson said after a tune-up on the back nine Wednesday. “I’ve been saying that all year. When I won Meijer, I think I proved to some of the naysayers and I proved to myself I am in a great position. It always comes down to a few breaks to get the momentum going your way and hopefully I can start out fast on Thursday and get off to a good start and keep the momentum throughout the weekend.”
That was the formula last year at the KPMG at Sahalee Country Club outside Seattle, where Henderson had a hole-in-one on her fourth hole of the tournament and had the lead after the first round. She trailed Lydia Ko by two shots entering the final round Sunday, shot 65 to tie Ko and beat her in a playoff.
Sahalee, lined with giant red cedars and Douglas firs, was a tough track. Given Henderson’s superior ball striking, difficult conditions give her an advantage.
“I like it,” she said about Olympia Fields North Course. “It’s really tough and when the wind kicks up — I guess they call it the Windy City for a reason. This course will play really long this week, and you’ve got to stay below the holes because the greens are very severe.”
Olympia Fields has hosted four majors, most recently the 2003 men’s U.S. Open, won by Jim Furyk with a record score of 272, 8 under par on the par-70 course.
For the women, the North Course will play to a par of 71. The 18th hole, which played as a 460-yard par 4 at the 2003 U.S. Open, will be a 472-yard par 5.
“I don’t think it’s going to be a shootout by any means,” Henderson said. “I think it’s going to be pretty tight to even par. I tend to play better when the courses get tougher which is exactly what this course is going to be. Hopefully I can be one of those people on Thursday to get a solid round in and keep it going through out the weekend.”