BROOKE'S BACK: Henderson holds off Lee for 2nd CPKC Women’s Open title
Smiths Falls, Ont., native shoots 4-under 67 to lock down 14th LPGA Tour title of her career
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MISSISSAUGA — Brooke Henderson has won on the LPGA Tour 14 times but winning the CPKC Women’s Open a second time is on another level for her.
The Smiths Falls, Ont., native shot a 4-under 67 to pull ahead of Australia’s Minjee Lee by a stroke in Sunday’s final round to win the Canadian national women’s golf championship. The win ended a drought that spanned more than two years, adding extra lustre to the title for Henderson.
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BROOKE'S BACK: Henderson holds off Lee for 2nd CPKC Women’s Open title Back to video
“This one I think might be the longest in between victories, so for that reason it makes it super special,” said Henderson. “To be able to win the Canadian Open, the CPKC Women’s Open, for the second time is so special.”
Henderson also won the Women’s Open in 2018 at Wascana Country Club in Regina. That made her the first Canadian in 45 years — since Jocelyne Bourassa of Shawinigan, Que., in 1973 — to win the national championship.
She’s now accomplished the feat twice in seven years.
It also added another win to her career tally, already the most by a Canadian professional golfer.
“This week was beyond special. To be able to finish it off and hoist the trophy again is extremely cool. It feels super surreal still,” said Henderson. “When I won in 2018, I woke up Monday morning thinking I still had to play the final round, so I’m wondering if that nightmare will happen again tomorrow.”
Henderson and Lee finished Saturday’s third round tied for first at 11 under, three strokes ahead of the field.
Between Henderson’s popularity in Canada and Lee’s star quality — she has 11 LPGA Tour wins in her career, including this year’s Women’s PGA Championship — the tournament’s final pairing had massive crowds following them around the river valley course.
“Today was really tough actually because there was just so many people,” said Lee, who had a 3-under 68 round to move up to second in the LPGA Tour’s points list. “I was very mentally strong today and I just tried to focus on, obviously, myself and the things that I could do to get the score lower.
“That’s pretty much what I did and what I tried to focus on. I think overall I did a fairly good job.”
Henderson’s last win was the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in January 2023. She said that although she always put a positive spin on her victory drought, she still had her doubts.
“There were some dark times, for sure. I feel like my family was so supportive and just said to keep going, just keep working hard, it’ll come around,” said Henderson, whose sister Brittany Sepanik is her caddie and her father Dave Henderson is her coach. “I’ve been telling everybody for like a long time, it’s close, it’s close, it’s close.
“To finally break through again is just so exciting.”
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Those struggles saw Henderson sink to 53rd on the Race to CME Globe points list and 58th in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. She’s projected to move up to 26th on the LPGA Tour’s points list, putting her in a position to join the World Team at the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown in late October and play in the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in late November.
“I’m excited for the rest of the season. I’m excited for what’s coming next,” said Henderson. “I’m super pumped about International Crown, and with this win I think I’ll guarantee my spot into the CME, which was a little bit in jeopardy before this.”
Charlottetown’s Lorie Kane, who had four LPGA Tour wins in her Canadian Golf Hall of Fame career, was at both of Henderson’s Women’s Open wins. She said that she hoped Canadians would give the 27-year-old Henderson more recognition for what she’s accomplished.
“I thought back automatically to 2018, when we’d been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for years, and that was surreal,” said Kane, standing greenside as Henderson submitted her scorecard. “This is now 14 wins. The first 13, we haven’t given this kid enough credit for.
“I certainly hope that this is something that keeps people talking about how good she is, rather than what’s wrong.”
Fifteen-year-old Aphrodite Deng of Calgary had a 2-over 73 to finish in a tie for 20th as the tournament’s low amateur.
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