Brooke Henderson’s smile has become one of her signatures over the last few seasons on the LPGA Tour, and everything that happened in 2019 gave her even more reasons flash it.

The Golf Town athlete had another remarkable year both on the golf course and off, and now she looks to take some well-deserved time off before getting ready for what should be a big 2020.

Take into consideration everything she accomplished this year and you’ll find an athlete who is just starting to hit her stride – shocking, really, since she just turned 22 in September. The list of highlights was lengthy and impressive!

“It was a really successful year and I’m really happy with it,” Brooke says. “I did a lot of good things so hopefully I’ll do them even better next year.”

Brooke achieved one of her biggest goals – keeping her multi-win streak alive – and after her second win of the season at the Meijer Classic she became the winningest Canadian in the history of the LPGA or PGA Tours (she also defended her title at the LOTTE Championship in Hawaii). Brooke also kept her scoring average below 70 again in 2019, and, after a solo fifth-place finish at the CME Group Tour Championship she notched 13 top-10’s in 2019 – the most on Tour.

Away from the course Brooke won the ESPY Award for ‘Best Female Golfer,’ was voted as a winner of the inaugural People’s Choice Award by Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, and her peers on the LPGA Tour voted for her as the winner of The Founders Award, given to someone who embodies the spirit of the LPGA Tour.

Not only that, but it was just relieved that Brooke is a finalist for the LPGA Tour’s Player of the Decade award, which is voted for by fans. Show your support to Brooke by voting here.

“Every year with the LPGA I get a little bit better and a bit more confident,” Brooke says. “This year definitely was that. If you’ve had 13 top-10’s, the most on the LPGA, that’s pretty cool.”

Brooke says one of the key things that helped keep her motivated all season long was the fan support that she got from around the world.

“The Brooke Brigade is amazing. Every tournament I go to I see shirts walking around,” she says. “I feel like I’ve made a lot of fans back home in Canada and also around the world, which is pretty amazing.”

Although Brooke fell short of defending her title at the CP Women’s Open in August, there were a couple of fantastic moments that stand out for her that week, she says.

Firstly, the Brooke Brigade was out in force as a collective that week. She remembers a specific young boy who gave her a high-five as she was leaving the seventh green Saturday and she kept seeing him after each hole. That high-five spurred her on to a Saturday 65 – tied for the lowest round of the day.

She also got to play in the final group on Sunday alongside eventual winner (and Rolex Player of the Year) Jin Young Ko – someone Brooke considers a close friend.

“It was a really special week for me obviously. Going into the final round I had a chance to win. I gave it my all to do that, it just unfortunately wasn’t meant to be. Jin Young played exceptional golf and she just pulled away from all of us. We couldn’t keep up and sometimes that just happens,” says Brooke.

“Walking up that 18th it was so much fun to celebrate the win with her and also to recognize and celebrate the great fans that were around and the great golf played all week.”

Having now wrapped up her fourth full season on the LPGA Tour (she played a good chunk of the 2015 season but wasn’t a full-fledged member) Brooke says she’s enjoyed the journey and experience with the 140+ golfers on the LPGA Tour she sees every week.

She says her and sister Brittany have become pretty close with nearly everyone out there – as evident by her winning The Founders Award by peer-vote just a few weeks ago.

“We’re really driven and passionate about what we’re trying to achieve. We’re trying to beat each other every single week,” she says with a laugh, “but we also have a mutual respect for one another off the course.”

For now Brooke says she’s going to enjoy some down time and reflect on the season-that-was. She’ll also re-set her goals as she looks ahead to a busy 2020 that will include representing Canada at the Olympics in Tokyo.

She says she’s excited at how the stats looked at the end of the year. She improved from 72nd on Tour in Putting Average to 34th, and says she’s feeling more confident on the greens. With a laugh she says she’s been wielding the same Ping putter for a long time (“It might be a record!”) and that’s added to her confidence, too.

So whether it was a key stat she improved on, a major goal she knocked off, or some special awards she won, 2019 was another exciting year for Brooke Henderson.

“I’m just really proud of this year,” says Brooke, “and I’m looking forward to 2020!”