When Brooke Henderson earned her sixth LPGA Tour victory at the 2018 LOTTE Championship, the Canadian was well on her way to becoming a global golf icon, five months shy of her 21st birthday. At the time, she was two wins short of Sandra Post, Mike Weir and George Knudson for most wins by any Canadian golfer. A year later, Henderson would go on to successfully defend her LOTTE title and tie that record, a moment she remembers fondly.
“That was a huge moment for me to be able to tie the Canadian record here at the LOTTE and then go on later that summer and surpass that record and make a place in history, Canadian history, which is really meaningful to me and definitely a career highlight,” said Henderson, who officially broke the record with her win a few months later at the Meijer LPGA Classic. “I'm just looking forward to the next opportunity to get my win victories into the double digits and hopefully get a few more before my career is over.”
In both LOTTE title victories, Henderson won by four strokes, on a golf course like Ko Olina where she never finished worse than 11th. Her wins and the atmosphere are reasons why she enjoys returning to Hawaii year after year.
“It's just so nice to wake up in the morning and have a view over the ocean. It just puts everything in perspective. Just makes you feel calm and peaceful, which I think is exactly what we need right now, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to bring that into my game a little bit more over the next few year,” said Henderson. “Just trying to enjoy the process a little bit more and being calm out there.”
Henderson has the opportunity to become the first Tour player to earn a three-peat since Inbee Park at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship from 2013-15. It’s something on the back of Henderson’s mind before she tees off No. 10 on Wednesday at 1:01 p.m. with Angela Stanford and Ariya Jutanugarn.
“it's definitely a rare opportunity, and so it would be nice to make the most of it. But I'm just really excited for the chance. To be in this position is really cool. I was in it once before in Portland and came up short on the three-peat, but just to have the opportunity, like I said, is really amazing,” said Henderson. “You can only do one shot at a time, especially on a different golf course. There is a lot of learning to it. So just being patient and trying to stick to the game plan.”
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