Fifth-place finish affirms progress of Ontario teen
RYE, N.Y. —Teenager Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., got a wealth of experience with her second top 10 finish in a major Sunday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
The 17-year-old also got some good old wealth.
Henderson had a 2-under 71 on Sunday at the Westchester Country Club for a tournament total of 10-under par, good for a tie for fifth place, nine shots behind Inbee Park. She scorched the field with a 19-under par total on the way to winning her third straight Women’s PGA title.
Henderson earned $132,725 US, a big step toward the $450,000 she’ll need to earn this season to win her playing privileges on the LPGA Tour next season. The other Canadian left in the field, Alena Sharp, of Hamilton, Ont., shot a final round 76 to finish in a tie for 65th at 5-over par.
“I was hoping to climb up that leaderboard a little more than I did, but 2-under on Sunday in a major championship, I can’t complain too much,” said Henderson. “Tied fifth, that’s pretty cool. Moving forward, I have a lot I can take away.”
Because of her age, she doesn’t have status on the LPGA Tour (members have to be 18) and is chasing her playing privileges for 2016 by earning the equivalent of 40th place on this year’s money list.
She entered the week with about $185,000, which would have been good for 33rd place on the money list. She’ll have abou t$317,000 after the PGA. It took about $448,000 to reach 40th place last year.
The LPGA has ruled it will retro actively count her money earned this season when she turns 18 in September.
The problem is Henderson is running out of opportunities to pad her bank account. She is exempt into the U.S. Women’s Open next month on the strength of her top 10 finish last year and will get her final sponsor’s exemption into the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open in August.
She might be able to qualify for some other events, but it looks as if she will need a couple more top 10 finishes to get in the neighbourhood of that $450,000 she needs.
So far, so good, said Brooke’s father Dave, who was her caddy this week.
“Brooke’s right on where we wanted her to be. We’re putting her in the six exemptions plus the U.S. Open plus we’re trying to get in the British Open, too. With a couple of Monday qualifiers, we’ll probably have eight or 10 events before the year is out. I wish we had more,” he said.
He liked what he saw this week. Henderson was solid from tee to green and played conservatively on the weekend to protect her position.
She wasn’t outside the top five all week (solo second after the first round, tied for fourth after round two and tied for third going into Sunday).
“I’m proud as a dad, a coach and a caddy. To get a top five in a major with a strong field and a top leaderboard ... there will be a day when we will go pin hunting and putting a little more aggressively, he said.
“At this point, people might not understand that. Yesterday, we play with Inbee and she’s throwing dart, dart, dart, right at it, right at it because those top girls there’s only one thing that they’re after: win. They don’t care about a second or third where we do. We were taking a lot more conservative lines and angles. Same with the putts. They might look like they were lagged up, well, they were for the most part.”