It was just a matter of time and the time was Sunday and the place was the Meijer Classic in Grand Rapids.
Brooke Henderson, Canada’s golfing sweetheart, is now Canada’s winningest professional of all time. She did it by completing a wire-to-wire run with a nervous closing 70 that left her with just a shot to spare.
She finished a whopping 21-under par at the Blythefield Country Club and held off a foursome of challengers, including Lexi Thompson and Nasa Hataoka, who both eagled the 72nd hole to put the heat on Brooke.
After taking three shots to get down from the front of the 16th hole, that bogey dropped Brooke to 21-under and she held that precarious one-shot lead going into 18. She sealed the deal with a perfect drive then a nice three-wood to 30 feet. She had three putts to win and she took all of them, finishing with a par.
“When I was walking up here I thought maybe I would have to birdie or eagle this hole to get the job done, but when I looked at the scoreboard I was sort of shocked that all I needed to do was three-putt and par,” Henderson said. “I’m really grateful about that because I was shaking pretty bad on those last couple putts.”
Her first left her eight feet short of the hole and she missed her birdie putt but tapped in from inside three feet for her ninth LPGA victory at the tender age of 21. That win let her pass Canadian legends Sandra Post (LPGA) along with Mike Weir and George Knudson from the PGA Tour, all of whom had eight victories.
“That’s really cool,” Henderson said. “Earlier this year to get my eighth win and to tie that record was a huge deal for me. To now to kind of break-through that is awesome. I’m just really excited for the rest of the summer and hopefully many more wins in the future.”
Brooke won with her parents standing just off the 18th green and it was her third win on Father’s Day.
“I’m happy and grateful for everything,” she said as she hugged her father.
