The LPGA Tour returns for its first event of the 2023 season, and that means Golf Town Ambassador Brooke Henderson’s year is about to kick off in a big way.
Brooke, who finished second last year at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, re-earned her spot in the field thanks to her two victories in 2022.
She finished at 13 under at the season-opener a year ago – just three shots back of Danielle Kang’s winning total of 16 under.
Gaby Lopez finished third, while Celine Boutier and Nelly Korda rounded out the top five.
The event, which takes place at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, is a unique one to start the year as the LPGA Tour’s best are grouped with celebrities from sport, music, and television.
“This event is a special one that let’s us play with a bunch of different athletes and celebrities. It’s a fun way to kick off the year,” said Brooke. “The whole week gives us a unique opportunity to see how these celebrities approach life and golf – and they are pretty good players, too!”
Brooke shot a 2-under 70 in the final round a year ago, making birdies on No’s 6 and 13.
Kang, meanwhile, made six birdies in the final round including three straight from Nos. 13-15. Despite a bogey on the par-4 16th she was able to hold onto her lead down the stretch and start the season with a victory.
Kang avenged a playoff loss from 2021 and was thrilled to see all of her off-season effort pay big dividends at the first event of the season.
“It feels really peaceful, actually. I feel peaceful today. I don’t feel super excited. I don’t feel unbelievably thrilled. I just feel, like, nice,” said Kang with a smile in the winner’s press conference a year ago. “The work that I put in, everyone keeps bringing it back to last year. It was a tough year for me. It was a bad year for me. I fought through, but for the last seven, eight weeks I just dropped the fight. I didn’t need to fight anymore. It was a new year.”
For Brooke, this will mark the start of another campaign where she’s hoping to find the winner’s circle multiple times and continue to climb up the world ranking. She’s currently seventh and sitting on 12 wins for her career – the most of any Canadian in LPGA or PGA Tour history.
This will also be the first event where Brooke will be playing a full bag of new clubs after switching from Ping to TaylorMade during the off-season.
Brooke said her runner-up result from 2022 was nearly as nice a way to start the year as she could have asked, and she’s hoping for more of the same in 2023.
“It’s great to get off to fast starts with such a long season ahead,” said Brooke. “Last year I was able to put myself in a good position at this event and finished well to start off the year. It really got the season moving in the right direction. “
The HGV Tournament of Champions begins Jan. 19. There are 39 golfers currently registered to compete. Players earn their way into the field with wins in any of the two previous LPGA Tour seasons.