Golf Town Athlete Brooke Henderson is ready to put a cherry on top of the incredible 2022 LPGA Tour season.
And wouldn’t that tasty fruit be the perfect addition to a fabulous year?
A two-time winner this season, including at the Amundi Evian Championship (her second major triumph), Brooke has had an all-time LPGA Tour season.
Henderson played The Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America in late September and teed it up on the Ladies European Tour in mid-October in New York where she finished tied for second. Last week she withdrew from the Pelican Women’s Championship prior to the second round due to an upper back injury but is doing everything possible to be ready for Thursday.
“After withdrawing from last week’s event due to an injury in my upper back, it was recommended that I rest as much as possible coming into the week. While I plan to address any medical concerns and recover fully in the off season, I am trying to do everything I can to compete this week. I appreciate all of the support” Brooke said ahead of LPGA’s season finale.
The CME Group Tour Championship marks the LPGA Tour’s return to Brooke’s wintertime home in Naples, Fla. She’ll be able to sleep in her own bed that week – a nice reward at the end of a long year – and is familiar with the course and the Floridian conditions. She’s notched three top-10 results at the event the last four seasons, and she’ll have more season-long momentum heading into this year’s CME Group Tour Championship than in years past.
Brooke’s two wins have her fourth on the Race to CME Globe for the season. She’s also fourth in the money list and ranked sixth in the world. Her scoring average is fifth on Tour this season, and she is third in the Rolex Player of the Year rankings, to boot. She’ll win the Rolex Player of the Year honour if she wins this week at the CME Group Tour Championship (and Lydia Ko and Minjee Lee finish third or worse) and the money title (as long as Minjee Lee finishes solo third or worse).
“I feel like my game is in a good spot which is exciting leading into the rest of the LPGA season in a few weeks,” Brooke said at the Aramco Series event in New York. “Hopefully I can finish strong because it’s been a really fun year and I have two wins out on the LPGA, and I just feel like I can just keep the game rolling.”
The CME Group Tour Championship features only the top 60 golfers in the season-long standings. With two events left in the year, it’s Lydia Ko who is on top, followed closely by 19-year-old Atthaya Thitikul, who just ascended to No.1 in the world – becoming the first teenager since Ko to earn such a spot. Minjee Lee sits third.
Each of Ko, Thitikul, Lee, and Brooke Henderson have won twice on the LPGA Tour this season. Jennifer Kupcho, who is sixth, is the Tour’s only three-time winner in 2022.
Could Brooke join her with a win at the CME Group Tour Championship? If so, it would be quite the conclusion to one of Brooke’s best seasons ever.
The tournament begins Nov. 17 from Tiburon Golf Club.
The winner of the CME Group Tour Championship takes home $2 million (U.S.), the biggest first-place prize in women’s golf.