Although the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is played at a different golf course each year, Brooke Henderson still manages to find success.
Henderson, who won the Women’s PGA Championship in 2016 – her first major – has not finished worse than T-6 in her career at the upcoming major.
“That’s a lot of confidence right there,” said Henderson. “I’m hoping to keep that trend going.”
This year’s Women’s PGA Championship, taking place June 20-23, heads to Chaska, Minnesota and Hazeltine National Golf Club.
Hazeltine has a robust history of hosting some of golf’s biggest events including, most recently, the 2016 Ryder Cup and the 2009 PGA Championship. It’s also hosted two U.S. Opens, and two U.S. Women’s Opens in its history.
It’s a long, hilly golf course that features narrow fairways. It should fit into Henderson’s game well, although she’s not seen it in person yet.
“The only thing I know is from watching the men on TV,” she said. “But I’ve just heard about how amazing it is and how tough it is. Hopefully it’ll go well for me.”
A year ago Henderson had the 36-hole lead before falling to T-6 after the weekend. In 2017 she had a sizzling Sunday 66 to move just one shot back of eventual winner Danielle Kang and nearly defended her title – birding the 71st and 72nd holes of the championship to put pressure on Kang.
There’s just something about this tournament that jives well with Henderson, so matter the location.
“To walk onto a major championship and see your picture there is like, ‘wow, that’s really awesome,’” said Henderson.
Henderson comes into the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on a high, having won the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give by one shot, her ninth LPGA Tour title. By winning for the ninth time, Henderson became the winningest Canadian golfer of all time on either the LPGA or PGA Tours.
The significance of that historical milestone was not lost on her heading into this week.
“Earlier this year to get my eighth win was a huge deal for myself and I felt like the whole country as well,” said Henderson, “and to break that record now is really exciting.”
One of her biggest goals of the year was to have a Scoring Average under 70 and so far so good, as it sits at 69.79. She’s third on Tour in that stat, and is in the top-10 in other key stats including Driving Distance, Greens in Regulation, and Total Birdies.
“It’s hard work but it’s my dream to be out here,” she said. “Overall I’m really happy (with my season), to have a win so early is really exciting (and) for most of the top-10’s I’ve been in contention and things just haven’t worked out quite as well as I’ve liked.
“It’s sort of a balance in learning how to deal with it every year and this year I’m happy with how it’s started and I’m just looking forward to the next couple weeks.”
If history is any indication, she’ll be looking forward to contending once again at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. It’ll be her second major victory, if she can find the winner’s circle.
“I’m always looking forward to that event,” she said. “The crowds are always great as well… Being a major championship on the schedule, you’re always trying to peak and try to play your best that week, so hopefully I can rest up the next couple days and then post some good scores on the weekend.”