Canadian Henderson part of major LPGA youth movement
ANN ARBOR, MICH. If the LPGA were to organize World Cup event similar to this fall’s World Cup of Hockey, the young stars wouldn’t just be the most entertaining team in the tournament, they’d be the odds on favourites to win it all.
As the world’s best women golfers arrived at the Travis Pointe Country Club for the inaugural Volvik Championship, which starts Thursday, youth isn’t just being served on the LPGA Tour. They are subtly letting the veteran players know that they’ve been served.
Hockey’s young stars will suit up future greats Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews and Aaron Ekblad. The LPGA’s young stars are great right now and are sailing away with all the hardware.
The average age of tournament winners through the first 13 events this year is 20.92 years of age. No tournament champion has been over the age of 23.
“There’s been a lot of really good rookies come out on Tour this year,” said grizzled veteran Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., all of 18 years old but already into her second LPGA season.
Currently the sixth-ranked player in the world, Henderson — who won her first LPGA tournament last season — has recorded eight top-10 finishes this year, along with $462,357 in earnings, and figures she’s getting close to adding her name to the list of under-23 champions for 2016.
“I’m hoping to get another win soon, maybe this week,” Henderson said.
The depth of young talent on the LPGA Tour comes from around the globe and includes four twotime winners — South Korea’s Ha Na Jang, 23; New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, 19; Japan’s Haru Nomura, 23, and Ariya Jutanugarn, 20, the first LPGA winner from Thailand, who is riding a two-tournament winning streak. Henderson is among five of the top 10 women’s players who are 23 or younger — Ko is No. 1, American Lexi Thompson, 21, is third, South Korea’s Sei Young Kim, 23, is fourth and South Korea’s In Gee Chun, 21, is seventh.
All five are playing in Ann Arbor.