They’re delivering great moments earlier than any players in the history of the game.
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Born and raised in hockey-mad Canada, Henderson followed in her father’s footsteps and was a goalie for the Smiths Falls Cubs in Ontario.
“Lydia Ko is wonderful”, said Henderson, who beat Ko in a playoff to win the last major, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Last year, she competed in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Portland Golf Club and reached the round of 16 in match play.
That result hardly dented the Kiwi’s confidence, though, with Ko going on to finish tied fourth at the next tournament and following that up with the 18th victory of her professional career in Arkansas.
Another American, Stacy Lewis, will be looking to add to her two major titles while Thai player Ariya Jutanugarn will be hoping for her first success on the big stage after an impressive run of form.
Should Ko or Henderson win this week at CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin, California, the U.S. Open champion would be the youngest to win this event.
“Travis said, ‘See your line and trust it.’ Since then, I’ve been able to see my putts go in, ” she said. I didn’t really expect this. She missed two cuts and withdrew from one event, but she’s been consistently playing the weekend and collecting a check. “They were two incredible women that did wonderful things out on the golf course, and in their lives”.
Of course, things can change drastically by the time Thursday rolls around. They evolve with intensifying competition for the game’s biggest prizes. Hardly. There have been 19 tournaments staged on the women’s tour this year and 18 of them have been won by players 23 years old or younger.
“[The course] doesn’t seem as tough as usual”, said Henderson.
She’s already beaten Ko’s record as the youngest victor of a professional tournament and, like Ko, won her first Major at 18. She holds the record (jointly with Sorenstam) for most consecutive sub-par rounds on the LPGA tour – 29.
She has three times been named New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year. “She’s done awesome things in her career and she’s only a couple months older than I am”. She started the road for us. She returned to the Symetra Tour to stay sharp for the LPGA Qualifying Tournament, hoping to regain her status there.
She seems like a fun-loving teenager, happy to share her mother’s baking with her playing partners, and always ready for a chat. It does mean, however, that Henderson still came to CordeValle without her “A” game, so she worked hard the past two days getting her ballstriking back in order. I’m sure that I will probably be in that kind of situation later.”It might happen soon or it might happen in a few years, who knows”.
There is very little separating the top two women’s golfers in the world – Lydia Ko and Brooke Henderson.
“Playing in this year’s U.S. Women’s Open means a lot to me, especially after the experience I had last week”. The LPGA rookie is coming to her title defense with six top-10 finishes on her 2016 resume, three of them runner-ups.
What does Ko think of Henderson?
“One game does not fit all for this course, this is a game of many parts”, Ko said.
Henderson, second to Ko in the rankings since mid-June, proved Sunday she can scheme with the best of them. “We all know how fantastic talent she has, but the thing is that she has such great personality and she’s super nice”.
Fans still flock to watch Wie play, though that following is dwindling with her fading relevance. Just as her father, Dave, did for the University of Toronto hockey team, Henderson donned all the protective padding and a large mask, clutched an oversized hockey stick and squatted for long periods of time, all the while with hockey pucks flying at her and the team depending on her.
“And I think every adult can say, ‘Oh, I remember when I was back in middle school or in kindergarten, I was so fearless”.
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Lydia Ko appears to most likely to win the US Open and in the process become the youngest player to do so but as is often the case in this game the “likely” is not always the outcome. “I think sometimes you can get carried away with all the negatives and the things that I wish I did better, but there are still so many positives you can take from each week”. “At the end of the day, all I can do is try my best, work on my own golf”.
