She’s just 21, but Brooke Henderson may already be the best professional golfer Canada ever produced.
With her victory at the Lotte Championship Saturday, she claimed her eighth LPGA title, equaling Mike Weir, George Knudson and Sandra Post as the winningest Canadians to play the LPGA or PGA Tour.
“It’s really amazing to even be mentioned in the same sentence as Mike Weir, George, and Sandra,” Henderson said.
Don’t be surprised if she passes them all with another title this year.
Henderson and Ariya Jutanugarn are the only LPGA players to win multiple titles in each of the last three seasons.
Closing solidly with a 2-under-par 70, Henderson successfully defended her title at Ko Olina Golf Club, her first victory this season.
At 16 under overall, she was four shots better than Eun Hee Ji (73) and five better than Ariya Jutanugarn (73) and Minjee Lee (74).
Nelly Korda, who was tied with Henderson at day’s start, struggled to a 77 and finished seven shots back.
Full-field scores from the Lotte Championship
Henderson beat a strong field, with eight of the top 10 in the world competing.
On another day of brisk wind over the island of Oahu, nobody was more solid under pressure than Henderson. After opening with a bogey at the first and losing her share of the lead to Korda, Henderson took back the lead with a birdie at the third. She never wavered from there, attacking with her driver all day long.
Nobody got closer than within two shots of Henderson on the back nine.
After gaining the early lead, Korda found herself chasing shortly after. A low hook into the trees at the seventh led to a double bogey that dropped her three behind Henderson. A quadruple bogey at the last left her with an eighth-place finish.
“It was a tough day,” Korda said. “I ended really poorly, and I’m pretty disappointed in that.”
Still, it was Korda’s eighth top-10 finish in her last 10 starts.
Henderson has won in each of the last five years, dating back to her breakthrough victory as a 17-year-old at the Cambia Portland Classic, before she was an LPGA member.
Henderson began the week No. 12 in the world rankings, but she’ll be climbing back inside the top 10 again, possibly as high as No. 7. She was on the cusp of No. 1 back in the summer of 2016, when she ranked second behind Lydia Ko for seven consecutive weeks.
In unrelenting attack mode, Henderson hammered her driver with impunity. She averaged 291 yards per drive on Saturday, hitting eight of 14 fairways. She hit 15 greens in regulation.
“I love this golf course,” Henderson said. “Early Monday, I was going around, playing a practice round, and I just kind of said to myself, ‘I can see why I play well here. Every hole kind of suits my eye and every hole I feel like I can make birdie. A couple holes I can cut corners off the tee, and have a little bit more of an advantage . . . Then I feel like I probably play my best golf in the wind, which sounds kind of crazy. But like last year in Canada, last year here in Hawaii, and New Zealand a couple years ago, all my wins have come when the weather is really windy or cold.”
Maybe so, but Henderson looks like she might just be heating up with four more majors to come this year.