Jul 29, 2015
Henderson a contender at British Open
On Thursday, Brooke Henderson will tee off in her third major of the year and if she plays as she did in the first two, it should be a good week. TSN golf analyst Bob Weeks says that the 17-year-old is a legitimate contender at the Ricoh British Women's Open in Turnberry, Scotland.
By Bob Weeks
On Thursday, Brooke Henderson will tee off in her third major of the year and if she plays as she did in the first two, it should be a good week.
Henderson is playing the Ricoh British Women's Open at Trump Turnberry Resort on an exemption she was given based on "an impressive professional debut."
She certainly has opened eyes to her talent, which has apparently extended beyond North America. (Of course it doesn't hurt that she's represented by IMG, which happens to be an organizer of the tournament.)
Henderson is a legitimate contender this week. In the other two majors in which she's played, the U.S. Women's Open and the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, Henderson carded ties for fifth place. And despite her having just one experience with links golf and being just 17, the bookmakers have put her chances at 40-1 this week.
It's been an impressive professional debut season for Henderson. In addition to those major performances, she's banked a total of $514,247. Of that number, $458,866 has come on the LPGA Tour, the rest at other events such as the PGA of Canada Women's Championship, which she won last week.
To avoid a trip to qualifying school in the fall, Henderson needs to earn the equivalent of 40th place on the LPGA Tour money list. Last season that was $447,658, but purses have increased this year so to be comfortable she’ll need to bank a little more cash.
This week's event, with a $3 million purse, would be a good place to do that. However, Henderson, who joins Alena Sharp as the Canadian content this week, is not an experienced links player. She has just one previous try at playing on the windswept, tarmac-hard layouts of Scotland. That came when she competed in the 2012 Ladies British Open Amateur Championship at Carnoustie where she qualified for match play but lost in the round of 32. Still, she has surprised many this year with her fine play and ability to adapt quickly. Turnberry should be no different.
In addition to a successful year, it has been a busy one for the Smiths Falls, Ont., native who has played a whirlwind schedule. At times, it seems a little more than exhausting and more than one person has wondered about the possibility of burnout.
The last week is a perfect example. She played in the Golf Canada pro-am on Monday then teed it up at the PGA of Canada Women's Championship the next two days before zipping over to Albany, N.Y., for a three-day Symetra Tour event where she finished tied for ninth. Henderson followed that up by jumping on a plane to Scotland where the Turnberry cram session has been on-going.
Barring successful Monday qualifying, this will be Henderson's penultimate event; the final one will come in Vancouver at the CP Canadian Women's Open.
She gets under way at 6:26 am EDT on Thursday alongside Paula Creamer and Ayaka Watanabe.