Henderson made her birdie putt to lock up the title and become the youngest victor in this championship’s storied history – first as the LPGA Championship, now as the Women’s PGA Championship – and the second-youngest woman in history to win a major, only behind Ko, who accomplished the feat past year. Both continued to make pars until the 17th when Henderson pulled even by dropping a 35-foot birdie putt after pulling her tee shot to the wrong side of the green on the par 3.
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“I’m happy with the way I played, I just got outplayed”, Ko said after the trophy presentation. “For Brooke to shoot 65 on the final day of a major at a course like this, it’s very impressive”.
With the pressure on at the second-to-last hole, Ko steps up with an unforgettable shot.
Henderson hit a superb approach on the No. 18 playoff hole as her ball landed about 20 feet inside of Ko’s ball and just three feet from the cup. Ko missed to the left, and Henderson tapped in to cap a week that started with a hole-in-one on her fourth hole Thursday and ended with a major championship.
Henderson posted her best score of the tournament when she carded a six-under-par 65, having recorded two 73s on Friday and Saturday. When Mickelson, with his 42 career PGA Tour titles, closed within a stroke, Berger birdied three of his next four holes, highlighted by a 32-foot putt on the par-3 14th that pushed his lead to 13 under. 16 and 17. Ko finished regulation with seven consecutive pars. “This is the first playoff hole I’ve had at a major”.
And then, in the next breath, the newly-minted World No. -2 ranked golfer added: “I’ve still got one more spot to go”.
“Walking down the fairway we were yelling my name”, she said.
Ko was bidding to continue a remarkable run of success at the majors which began in the Evian tournament previous year when she shot a final round 63 to become the youngest woman to win a major.
“You can see it in her eyes, in the way she sets her jaw”. Henderson also is the second Canadian woman to win a major championship, following Sandra Post’s victory in the 1968 event.
Ko missed, and Henderson calmly sank her winning putt.
Ko, the 19-year-old New Zealander, had won the previous two majors and is the top-ranked player in the world. But Brittany Henderson, who played played four years of college golf at Coastal Carolina, said she felt her sister was making the right move.
“We love her”, said Mike Pinter, also down from Vancouver, first to watch fellow Canadian James Paxton pitch for the Mariners on Saturday night, and then watch Henderson on Sunday.
She won the Kia Classic in March and followed that success with her ANA major win in the next tournament in a year when she has not finished outside the top 25 in any of her appearances.
Berger is the fourth first-time victor at the event in the past six years and 10th overall in Memphis.
“Things, they’ve changed so dramatically, and so quickly”, Henderson said.
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“I don’t like working on technical [aspects]”, she said, saying hers was still very much a “feel” game. While Henderson saved par on 18, Ko missed a 4-foot birdie try on the par-3 17th after a ideal tee shot. “I’m sure – I hope we have lots of extra holes like that or lots of times where we’re contending for the championship”.
