Megan Khang has won the 2023 CPKC Women’s Open for her first-career LPGA Tour title.
Khang, who shot a final-round 74, topped Jin Young Ko in a playoff. She became the LPGA Tour’s ninth first-time winner this season with her win Sunday at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club.
It was a dramatic ending to the Canadian LPGA Tour stop, with Khang knocking her approach to 10 feet on the 18th hole and rolling in the birdie to tie Ko after bogeying the penultimate hole of the championship.
“Eight years is a long time,” Khang said. “It’s great to get the first.”
There was some serious mid-round drama after Khang was 3 over through 10 holes, and she got caught by Ko. However, Khang re-established a two-shot lead after birdies on Nos. 11 and 12. Still, Ko, a former world No.1, has a never-say-die attitude. She birdied Nos. 14 and 16 and was firmly in the mix for her third win of the season before an untimely swing on the first extra frame.
The duo finished at 9 under for the week.
“I didn’t expect I would be in a playoff because I was five shots behind Megan (at one point) but I know if I got a lot of birdies there would be a chance to win,” Ko, who had an impressive group of followers all week, said. “It was close. I played really well today.
“Always happy to play in front of Canadians in Canada.”
Khang had notched 33 top-10 finishes in her LPGA Tour career heading into Sunday. All those top-10s came since 2016 – and they’re 11 more than the next-closest golfer without a win. This week marked her 191st career LPGA Tour start.
Khang has been a multi-time member of the American Solheim Cup team, and her spot on the 2024 squad was confirmed this week, with captain Stacy Lewis filling out the team with her picks this week.
Khang said she leaned on some advice of the Solheim Cup assistant captains to help calm her nerves Sunday like Angela Stanford and Morgan Pressel.
“’You guys have been in this position before. What do you do to stay calm.’ It’s tough to win out here,” Khang said.
Golf Town Athlete Brooke Henderson, who knows what it takes to win the CPKC Women’s Open, saved her best for last at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, matching her low round of the week with a 4-under 68 on Sunday. The Canadian blasted out of the gates with a 5-under 31 highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 7th.
Although Brooke made two bogeys late on the back nine, she added one more circle on her scorecard on the par-4 16th before making a nice par save on No. 18.
“Today it was really important to me to try to have a really good round, try to play a little bit more freely, and try to make some birdies,” Brooke said.
“I was able to grind it out when I was struggling. Then today I was able to kind of ride a wave of momentum. 5-under through nine holes is a lot of fun. So even though it wasn’t my best (result), there were times that I was doing the right things, and I feel like I learned a lot in the times I was kind of struggling a little bit.”
Brooke was once again the star of the week, with so many from the Brooke Brigade cheering her on at Shaughnessy – especially at the special viewing areas on Nos. 8 and 13 at the storied golf club.
She called the Vancouver fans “phenomenal.” “Just the love, support, all the people that came out to watch. They didn’t really care what I was shooting, which was also really nice. They were just happy to be out here watching,” Henderson said. “I can’t really thank them enough, and it means so much to me. I am happy though that I played a little better today and I could maybe put a few more smiles on their faces.”
Brooke is always able to put a smile on the faces of those who follow her on the course, and a fabulous finish to the CPKC Women’s Open put a smile on her face, too.
The LPGA Tour heads to Portland next week, where Brooke has won twice previously.
Next year’s CPKC Women’s Open will be contested in Calgary, and we’ll be sure to see the Brooke Brigade on site again in 2024!