“I made so many putts”, she said, with a bit of a laugh.
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Ko was going for her third major championship victory in a row, but Henderson secured her first instead. Ko was 15 when she won her first LPGA title, the 2012 Canadian Women’s Open, which was also Henderson’s first LPGA tournament.
“I was going, ‘OK, I’m not aiming at him anymore, ‘ ” Henderson said. “For Brooke to shoot 65 on the final day at a major, at a course like this is very impressive”.
Weir also won the Masters on the first playoff hole after Mattiace made a mess of Augusta’s 10th hole. The back nine was a clinic in clutch shot-making, leading to a playoff to crown the champion.
This time a year ago, Henderson was an under-ager with no status on either the Symetra or LPGA tours.
But Brooke Henderson was watching.
By the end, all those roars were left just for her.
“I just kinda patiently walked up to the green”. “And also try to ideal my own”.
Ko was attempting to become the youngest player, male or female, to win three consecutive majors.
Lydia Ko compliments the play of 18-year-old Brooke Henderson for defeating her in a playoff to capture the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Her next chance is the U.S. Women’s Open at CordeValle in July.
Ko went into the final round with a one-stroke lead over Americans Brittany Lincicome and Gerina Piller, with a further six players another stroke behind.
The Canadian golfer claimed the title when she rolled in a short birdie putt on the first play-off hole at the Sahalee Country Club course near Seattle, Washington.
Ko, who won the LPGA’s last two majors, appeared to have control when she made birdie at the par-4 eighth, the most hard hole at Sahalee that yielded just eight birdies all week. Three times she saved par out of the bunker, although her best save came the first time she played the 18th. Henderson then won on the first playoff hole, hitting a great drive, then a 7-iron second shot to 2 feet to set up the winning birdie putt. Henderson’s tee shot found the trees right of the fairway, but she scrambled to make a 12-footer to finish out a back nine of 31. It was a lot to put on a three-foot roll.
“It’s really been an incredible journey”, Henderson said Monday on a conference call. “But somehow I was able to knock it in”. Later, she would hoist the big silver PGA championship trophy over her head like it was the Stanley Cup, fittingly enough on the same day that the Pittsburgh Penguins would do the same just down the coast a few hours later.
Henderson, who last year won the Canadian Female Athlete of the Year award, said she marvels at the support she gets. But none, not even Henderson herself, seems all that sure where it comes from.
“They’ve started a really good national program, so they have some regional training centers and development centers across the country”, said Day, whose daughter dreams of big-time golf.
At the age of 18 years, 9 months and 2 days, Brooke Henderson today became the youngest champion in the 62-year history of this Championship.
“We ate Chipotle, hopped in the auto and came here”, Henderson said.
“That kept her in the game”, said Post. Her mom isn’t a golf fan, but she cheers “loud and proud”.
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“The reason that she constantly improves is that the recipe hasn’t changed. I just got outplayed”, Ko said. When she turned pro in December of 2014 she was ranked 223rd in the world.
