Golf Town Athlete Brooke Henderson is hoping that a little trend she’s noticed at the Meijer LPGA Classic will result in her lifting another trophy in Michigan this year.
“Even though I won in 2017 then took a year off then I won in 2019… so maybe having not played in 2020, that may be my ‘year off’ and then I’ll win again this year,” said Brooke, with a smile.
Last year’s Meijer LPGA Classic was cancelled due to COVID-19 challenges, but it’s back for 2021 and the event in Grand Rapids, Michigan has always been kind to Brooke.
She said the golf course reminds her a lot of the courses she grew up playing in Eastern Ontario and for the second time this year she’ll head to a tournament as the ‘defending’ champion – even though it will have been two years since the event has taken place (the LOTTE Championship in Hawaii was the other).
“I’m really excited. I just love defending championships,” said Brooke. “It’s just a special feeling when you get there. You see a lot of posters with yourself on them, but you also have so many great memories.
“Even in the practice rounds you get chills and I’m just really excited to get back out there and compete.”
In 2017 Brooke finished at 21-under par and beat Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson by two shots. Two years later Brooke finished, again, at 21-under for the week and topped a foursome of golfers who finished at 20-under including Thompson, again, plus Nasa Hataoka, Su Oh, and Brittany Altomare.
“I got off to a really fast start,” said Brooke of her 2019 tournament. “I shot 8-under both Thursday and Friday. I had a hole in one! So, things were looking really nice. I only shot 5-under on the weekend and one of the caddies was walking by Brit and said, ‘Only 5-under on the weekend, what happened?’ It was just a week with a lot of birdies and was a lot of fun.”
Brooke’s win in 2019 also helped her make history. It was her ninth career LPGA Tour title which broke the win’s record for Canadians – either on the LPGA or PGA Tour.
“That was such a meaningful win,” said Brooke. “I was so nervous walking down the 18th hole so I’m glad that all I needed to do was make par.”
Although Brooke said the way Blythefield Country Club always fit Brooke’s eye (“The way the holes are shaped is very visually appealing to me on every tee box,” she said), the club underwent a renovation in 2020 that wrapped up in November. That renovation included re-building every bunker on the course, fairways were widened and realigned, and greens were expanded to their original shapes and sizes (plus removing several trees).
Brooke, with a laugh, said maybe she had something to do with the desire for change.
“They changed the golf course a lot. Maybe they were tired of me there,” she said at the U.S. Women’s Open.
We could certainly never tire of Brooke playing well – which she’ll look to do again at the Meijer LPGA Classic as the defending champion.
Brooke Henderson withdrew from the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship ahead of the second round this past weekend.
Henderson’s team confirmed to multiple news sourcesthat her withdrawal is due to a non-COVID relate illness.