Canada’s Brooke Henderson closes strong, leads with a chance to win her national championship
Vaughn Ridley
No matter what’s going on with Brooke Henderson’s golf game, she can always count on good vibes at the CPKC Women’s Open.
The Canadian superstar found her happy place Saturday in a bunker, of all places, on the 17th hole at the Mississaugua Golf & Country Club in Ontario, where she’s from. She holed out for eagle.
“I was really happy where my drive ended up,” Henderson said. “When I got up to it I was thinking, ‘oh, I can make this.’ I just tried to put a good swing on it. Landed exactly where I wanted it to and it fell in.
“Definitely a dream way to finish and nice to [share] the clubhouse lead now going into the final round. We’ll see what everybody does coming in, but it was just a fun day and I'm looking forward to tomorrow.”
Henderson shot a six-under 65 and shares the 54-hole lead at CPKC Women’s Open, which she won in 2018, with Minjee Lee, who won the KPMG Women’s PGA earlier this season. Henderson had an eventful day with six crowd-pleasing birdies, a terrific eagle, two bogeys and nine pars.
The 27-year-old hasn’t won in more than two years on the LPGA and has struggled this year, collecting just one top 10 against five missed cuts. But playing in Canada for her is one of the highlights of her year, no matter how she plays.
Fans love everything Henderson does. Lee, the Australian, chipped in for par on the 18th hole to remain tied for the lead overnight. She knows she’ll be playing in a pro-Henderson gallery in the final pairing. Henderson is thriving in this atmosphere, and the gallery erupted when she made that eagle at the 17th.
“The crowds have been so phenomenal all week and today starting out on the first tee because I was near the final groups, it was really exciting and there was a lot of energy,” Henderson said. “I feel like I was playing pretty well today, so the crowd continued to grow and grow. It was fun to give them some things to cheer about.
“That's always the goal, one of the goals. I'm just really excited to head into tomorrow in a good spot and hopefully put up a good number.”
If history is an indicator, Henderson has a good shot to raise that giant trophy again. When she’s held the 54-hole lead or co-lead, she’s won five of six times. The time she didn’t win, she lost in a playoff.
Henderson hasn’t won since the 2023 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. But she’s back in Canada, where she played her first professional event as a 14-year-old amateur. The love is always there, as it’s expected again Sunday.
“Just hearing a lot of ‘go, Canada, go Brooke,’” Henderson said. “Just hoping to get off to a fast start and really reel in that energy.”