Brooke Henderson ends Canada’s 45-year drought at CP Women’s Open

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you end a drought.
Brooke Henderson stormed into the Canadian history books like a runaway train on Sunday, blowing away the field to win the CP Women’s Open in Regina with relative ease.

Brooke Henderson closed with a 7-under 65 to win the CP Women’s Open by four strokes.  (JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Nobody, but nobody, was going to stop Henderson from becoming the first Canadian woman in 45 years to capture our country’s national golf championship. When it was over, there was no shy wave to the crowd at the Wascana Country Club, no restrained celebration. It was a party on the 18th green, complete with a champagne shower for Henderson and with one-time Canadian No. 1 Lori Kane leading the assembled crowd in a rendition of “O Canada.”
Henderson went into the final round leading by a single stroke, and ended up winning by four, delivering a sensational round of 65 in the rain and cold of a late summer day in Saskatchewan. If she felt the pressure of becoming the first Canuck since Jocelyne Bourassa in 1973 to win on home soil, it didn’t show.
Instead, she was a picture of pure concentration against an elite field and a clutch of pursuers, right up until she cooly drained a three-foot putt for one last birdie on the final hole.

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It wasn’t dramatic, not really. When she followed up a birdie by up-and-coming American star Angel Yin that briefly cut her lead to two strokes with a birdie of her own on the 13th hole, it was essentially all over. Nobody had the game to catch her on this weekend.
Afterward, as Henderson reflected on a difficult year for her family in which she lost both grandfathers, she finally let her emotions show.
“It’s been a tough year,” she said, her voice breaking. “To get this for my family, and for Canada, I’m just so happy.”
At just 20 years of age, Henderson looks headed for superstardom in her sport, as well as perhaps becoming the most successful female professional athlete in Canadian sports history.
Henderson is on the same trajectory that Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard was when she made it to the Wimbledon women’s final in 2014, a time when it appeared Bouchard, then 20, was a solid bet to eventually win at least one Grand Slam title and become one of the best known female athletes on the planet.

Bouchard, however, stalled there, and hasn’t come close to winning anything since. Henderson, on the other hand, appears to be heating up. She has now won seven LPGA events, two this year, and there appears to be no sign whatsoever that she won’t be able to continue at this pace. Only Sandra Post, George Knudson and Mike Weir, with eight wins each, have more pro golf victories among Canadian players, and it seems virtually inevitable Henderson will jump past all three in the near future.
With all eyes on her for four days, and with little girls wearing “Brooks Brigade” T-shirts and Ping visors to mimic their hero, Henderson didn’t flinch or wobble. Last year in Ottawa, a third round 63 appeared to have her poised to end Canada’s drought at this tournament, but a 71 on the final day left her tied for 12th, six shots back of champion Sung Hyun Park of South Korea.

 

This year, she trailed going into the third round, but quickly pulled in front on Saturday and was never caught. He long game, her forte, was impeccable, and she was sharp with her wedges and putter. The weather, different for all four rounds, was as big an opponent as the golf course, but even that didn’t slow Henderson.
It wasn’t that everything she did was spectacular on Sunday before crowds that stood five-deep and followed her every swing. The temperatures and the rain put a bit of damper on her length, a big advantage she has over the rest of the tour.
Instead of pushing too hard, Henderson relentlessly refused to make a mistake big enough for anyone to have a chance to catch her. The Canadian event isn’t one of the LPGA’s five majors, but Henderson calls it “her sixth major,” and played like it.
How she’s going to top this performance when the tournament moves to the Magna Golf Course in Aurora next summer is anyone’s guess. But you can bet the crowds will be just as big, and probably bigger.

Henderson is Canada’s golf phenom, with a growing following, and gives the LPGA a new North American star at a time when South Korean women are dominating the tour. Unlike the PGA Tour, the women’s tour moves around the world, which means a diverse set of international stars is even more important.
After winning two tournaments in June, 2016, including her first LPGA major, Henderson seemed to pause as she dealt with the demands of the tour and her new-found notoriety. She didn’t win again for 16 months until she captured the New Zealand Women’s Open, and that victory seemed to erase any sense of growing doubt that she was going to be a major force in women’s golf.
You have to believe winning the Canadian title now removes one massive obstacle from her path. Weir had to endure years of questions about whether he could win the Bell Canadian Open, or more specifically, why he couldn’t, and now Henderson has put those types of questions to bed for good.
More than that, she did it with gusto. With style.
That’s how you end a drought