With nearly 100 eager youngsters lined up to meet their hero, Golf Town Athlete Brooke Henderson swept into Vancouver wearing a blue quarter-zip sweater, a white visor, and her megawatt smile – eager to meet the members of the Brooke Brigade that have for so long been her big supporters. And also catch a glimpse of this year’s host venue for the CPKC Women’s Open, which tees off next month.
Brooke, fresh off a 12th-place result at the U.S. Women’s Open at the iconic Pebble Beach flew from San Francisco to Vancouver to spend a day in the host city of the CPKC Women’s Open, which kicks off August 24 at the venerable Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club. The venue will become the first to host both the RBC Canadian Open and CPKC Women’s Open in the last quarter-century and it was announced by CPKC on July 10 that the purse has been increased to $2.5 million (U.S.).
“I’m super excited to be back here in Vancouver. I have a lot of great memories and some tournament victories in this area like in Portland and Seattle, so I feel like Vancouver has to be next,” Brooke said. “That’s what I’m hoping.”
Brooke, who won the CPKC Women’s Open in 2018 (of note: Canadian Pacific Rail merged with Kansas City Southern to create the only railway that stretched from Canada through the United States and Mexico in April of this year, hence the new acronym), is looking for a successful return to Canada’s national women’s open after a busy summer stretch. She is teeing it up at both the Dana Open and then the DOW Great Lakes Bay Open alongside Lexi Thompson at the LPGA Tour’s only team event.
From there, it’s onwards to defend her title at the Amundi Evian Championship and also tee it up at the AIG Women’s Open – the final major of the year.
For Brooke, however, the CPKC Women’s Open is absolutely a major to her.
“I’ve always said this event is like the sixth major for me on the LPGA Tour so it’s definitely a week I’m trying to peak at. I’ve held that trophy once and I’d love to do it again,” Brooke said.
After visiting Shaughnessy G&CC, Brooke headed to the Golf Town store in Richmond, B.C. to meet so many of her fans.
“I love coming to these Golf Town visits before the tournament to see all these people and see them wearing their Brooke Brigade shirts. It’s unbelievable really and as a little girl dreaming of playing on the LPGA Tour this is what you wanted – people showing you that much love and support so it’s really fantastic,” Brooke said.
Her time at Golf Town was just a preview of what she hopes is an electric week at the CPKC Women’s Open in Vancouver.
“The CPKC Women’s Open is just a sea of red, normally, so what a cool moment that is at our national open,” Brooke said. “Winning this event in 2018 was a highlight of my career and I’d love the opportunity to try to do it again!”