When the final putt dropped on the 18th green at the Meijer LPGA Classic a year ago, Dave Henderson put his arms around daughters Brooke and Brittany, jumped up and down, and couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. You couldn’t have asked for a better Father’s Day gift.
The Henderson family is as tight-knit as you’ll see on the LPGA Tour, and this Father’s Day will be a special anniversary of Brooke’s victory – and an opportunity to do it again, as the conclusion this year’s event once again finishes on Father’s Day, but for Dave, he knows he’s got something special already.
“We’re best friends,” he says. “It’s like every day is Father’s Day.”
Brooke Henderson notched her fourth LPGA Tour victory that day, and dedicating her victory to him was one of the more emotional moments in her young professional career. Brooke says knowing how special her father has been to her development as a person and a golfer helped her to get across the finish line and into the winner’s circle.
“To stand there and tell him that one was for him, for all the sacrifices and hard work he’s put in to our success and to succeed at the highest level and give it back to him was so cool,” she says.
For more than 30 years, Dave Henderson was a schoolteacher who saw thousands of students pass through his classroom.
But his favourite pupils never sat in an audience with him. No, they were right there at home.
The Henderson daughters were the ones to always benefit the most from dad’s teaching, and that remains true today as Dave continues to be Brooke’s coach.
“Everything he does is to help make us more successful,” says Brooke. “If he sees an opportunity, he’ll do everything in his power to make sure it happens for us. We always have his support. We always have him to talk through everything. When we’re going through anything… he’s always right beside us.”
Brooke, a Golf Town athlete, has had a career, so far, unlike any other young Canadian professional golfer in history, and is now just two wins away from tying the record for the most by a Canadian professional golfer – male or female – having notched six in just three years on the LPGA Tour. She says the sacrifice both her mom and dad made for her and Brittany is one of the biggest things she holds with her as she gets to live her dream week in and week out.
“He’s given up so much so that both Brittany and I can follow our dreams. So much time and effort to help us be successful, and that’s why we love to play the game of golf. We owe everything to both my mom and my dad.”
Happy Father’s Day from Golf Town to all the Dad’s helping make dreams come true.