Golf Town Athlete Brooke Henderson knows how special it is to have the opportunity to defend a title on the LPGA Tour, which is why she’s so excited to tee it up at the DIO Implant LA Open in 2022.

Brooke won last year’s event at the storied Wilshire Country Club by one shot over Jessica Korda. It was her 10th LPGA Tour title – adding to her total as the winningest Canadian of all time on either the LPGA or PGA Tour.

“I love returning to an event where I am a defending champion and where I have so many great memories where I was able to hoist the trophy,” said Brooke. “It just gives you a lot of confidence and at the same time it really motivates you, that week especially, to compete at the highest level and try to repeat the magic that happened previously.”

Brooke’s win in Los Angeles a year ago was the result of very impressive Sunday effort. She started the day four shots back of both Korda and Jin Young Ko, who she was grouped with for the final round.

Both Korda and Ko shot 1-over 72s and Brooke rallied with a 4-under 67. It was the best round of anyone near the top of the leaderboard Sunday.

Brooke went 4-under through eight holes (No’s 7-14) and that stretch was key for her in the final round. She rolled in a great birdie on the par-4 11th and followed that up with a chip-in birdie on the par-3 12th.

“That Sunday was very special,” said Brooke. “I was in a great group and going into Sunday I was like, ‘let’s just really enjoy this and let’s see what we can do and make some birdies and climb up here quickly.’ Things worked out pretty well. I was able to make some birdies and make some nice pars when I needed to.

“The birdie I made on 11, it was really nice. It was a tucked pin and to make a birdie there I took the lead. And I made that chip in on the next hole, so the momentum was really in my favour. I just tried to ride that the rest of the way.”

It all worked out OK for Brooke, but she laughs now about how she was able to handle the par-3 18th (yes, Wilshire has a par-3 closer!).

On the tee she told herself to hit it ‘anywhere but left’ and of course, she hit it left. It got the slope and trundled down into a tough green-side area. However, she hit an all-world chip.

“To get up-and-down under those circumstances, from that position, it was pretty awesome,” said Brooke. “I was really happy about it and to get my 10th win on Tour and to win after such a long time, it felt like, it was really meaningful and I’m excited to hopefully go out and have more opportunities like that.”

This is the fourth year for the LA Open, which begins April 21. Brooke has a solid record at this event. It was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but she also has a tie for 10th (2019) to go along with her victory.