Brooke Henderson Saves Best For Last, Shoots 67 In Final Round Of CP Women’s Open
Canada's Brooke Henderson Attracted Big Crowds All Week And Rewarded Her Fans With A Fine Final Round 67 At The Vancouver Golf Club In The CP Canadian Women's Open - Image Credit Jurgen Kaminski
by Alfie Lau
By media attention, Brooke Henderson was the ‘IT’ story for Canadians all week. But by score, at least until Sunday afternoon, it was Alena Sharp who was outplaying Henderson.
That all changed with Henderson’s (-5) round of 67 which vaulted her up the leaderboard and justified all the media attention she received during the week. Henderson finished at (-4) 284 for the tournament.
“It was a really fun day out there today,” said Henderson. “I wanted to show and to give the crowd a little bit of excitement, and I think today, I did that.”
Henderson got off to a slow start, making just one birdie, a 10-foot putt on the 5th hole, before she turned it on and made birdies at 10, 14, 17 and 18 to shoot (-4) 32 on the back nine.
“To go 4-under on the back 9 and finish birdie, birdie (at) 17 and 18 is definitely a cool feeling,” said Henderson, who also drove the green on the 306-yard 14th and just narrowly missed her 36-foot eagle putt.
“I either hit that fairway really well or the fairway is really firm,” said Henderson. ‘I think I’m going to go with the fairway is really firm.”
Henderson will take some time off Sunday before getting on a plane to Alabama, where next week’s LPGA Tour stop is. “I’m really excited to be a tour pro because now I have somewhere to play and I know I’m playing next week, which is really exciting,” said Henderson. “I’ll have a couple of hours on the flight to rest and then I’ll get ready for next week.”
Henderson’s birdies at 17 and 18 were accompanied by huge cheers from the crowds which just kept building after her 10:40 a.m. start. “Almost everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve had some people that were supporting me,” said Henderson. “I have people saying ‘Let’s go follow Brooke Henderson’s group.’ That’s really amazing and hopefully, it continues to grow and get bigger.”
The 17-year-old, who turns 18 in early September, did finish as top Canadian, as Sharp couldn’t make much of a move after her opening rounds of 71-72 and 71, shooting a final round (+3) 75 to finish at (+1) 289.
Sherbrooke, QUE’s Maude-Aimee Leblanc had her worst round of the tournament on Sunday, shooting a (+8) round of 80 to go with rounds of 74-71-75. Leblanc finished at (+12) 300 for the tournament, tied for 74th place.
Coquitlam’s SooBin Kim, who is playing under the South Korean flag, finished at (+2) 290 after a final round (-1) 71.