Henderson comes back for LPGA win

Canadian, 19, beats Wie, Thompson by two strokes.

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. — Brooke Henderson made it a special Father’s Day.

With father and coach Dave Henderson and other family members watching, the 19-year-old Canadian won the Meijer LPGA Classic on Sunday for her fourth LPGA Tour title, holding off Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson by two strokes in cool, windy conditions.

“It was just like the perfect day,” she said. “My dad is my coach, he’s a great father to both my sister (caddie Brittany) and I, and he’s one of our best friends. He’s with us all the time, and he gave me a lot of lines early in the week that I didn’t know, that I wouldn’t normally take without him there. But he said, ‘If you want to win and you want to contend, you need to take these lines off the tee.’

“I did that and I had an advantage over the rest of the field all four days. So this win, I say it’s for him, but it really is for him because I probably wouldn’t have done it without him.”

Henderson closed with a 66 on the Blythefield Country Club layout that was reduced to a par of 69 — the fifth hole was played as a par 3 instead of a par 5 — the final two rounds because of flooding.

Wie finished with a 65, and Thompson had a 69.

Henderson finished at 17-under 263 and earned $300,000. She led after each of the first two rounds, shooting 63-67 at a par of 71, and had a 67 on Saturday to drop a stroke behind Thompson.

Henderson had three birdies in a bogey-free round. She birdied Nos. 7 and 8, while Thompson faltered.

Thompson was 1 over on the first five holes with two bogeys.

Thompson hit one of the longest drives of the day on No. 9, put her approach shot within 20 feet and made the birdie putt to tie for the lead. But she bogeyed No. 10 to fall out of the lead.

“I hit my driver great the whole day, so that was definitely a positive,” Thompson said. “I didn’t roll the putter that well today. It is what it is. I hit two great last putts. I almost made the two long ones.”

Wie shared the lead early in the round and with five birdies and no bogeys.

“It was tough out there,” Wie said. “But overall I felt like I played good this week and I’m happy about it.”

Su Oh (64), Madelene Sagstrom (65) and Moriya Jutanugarn (66) tied for fourth at 14 under.

CORY OLSEN / THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS Brooke Henderson dedicated her victory Sunday in the Meijer LPGA Classic to her father and coach, Dave.