Mar 28, 2017
Ko, Henderson look to bounce back at ANA
Lydia Ko and Brooke Henderson are both entering the year's first major coming off disappointing finishes in their last tournament. As TSN's Bob Weeks writes, both have different reasons for their struggles and different ways to bounce back.
By Bob Weeks
The year’s first major gets underway this week in Rancho Mirage, Calif., with the ANA Inspiration, nee the Dinah Shore, nee the Kraft Nabisco. If the Masters is the unofficial start to the men’s golf season, the ANA is the same for the women’s tour.
This year, the LPGA Tour’s finest arrive with a few eyebrow-raising questions such as the performance of defending champion Lydia Ko. Shocker of shockers, she missed the cut last week for just the second time in her career, with rounds of 74-72 at the Kia Classic. A missed putt on the final hole on Friday gave her the weekend off.
It has been a year of change for Ko, who started 2017 by making some significant alterations. She has a new coach after leaving David Leadbetter and signing on with Gary Gilchrist, and a new caddie in Gary Matthews. She also put new clubs in the bag, moving from Callaway to PXG.
Now no one should think that one missed cut is a time to panic. Ko logged three top-10s in the three tournaments prior to the last week. And she’s still holds the No.-1 spot in the Rolex Rankings, albeit with Ariya Jutanugarn closing in.
But Ko hasn’t quite been the dominating presence of women’s golf for a while now. Her slide started last summer when she managed just a single top-10 in her last six starts of the year. And she was pretty much a non-factor in the year’s last two majors. Some suggest that this was a letdown following her intense push to the Olympics where she earned a silver medal.
Whatever the reason, this week will be a good chance to see just where Ko’s game and desire rest.
Another player who missed the cut last week was Brooke Henderson. It marked just the third time in her professional career that the Canadian star been on the wrong side of the line.
Henderson has just a single top-10 so far this year and like Ko, has new clubs in the bag, updated models from PING. Statistically, she’s also not too far off the numbers she posted last year, when she won twice. But her results are not on par with the fast start she enjoyed a year ago, her first full season on the LPGA Tour.
One reason for the Smiths Falls, Ont.-product’s slow start to the season could be an apparent parting with instructor Tristan Mullally. The Golf Canada teacher who has coached Henderson for some time and guided her to last year’s Olympics hasn’t worked with her since last August. Instead, it’s Henderson’s father Dave, who is not a golf professional, who is looking after his daughter.
Dave Henderson has worked with Brooke since she first picked up a club and, understandably, the two have an exceptionally close relationship.
So far this year, she appears to be struggling. Analyst and LPGA Tour hall of famer Judy Rankin remarked on the broadcast of last week’s tournament that Henderson needed “to go back to being the bubbly Brooke on the course we saw last year.” For Rankin, it seemed that for that round at least, Henderson wasn’t enjoying herself as she always seemed to on the course.
As with Ko, this week’s first major will be a test for Henderson and a good indication of the status of her game. Last year, she finished 10th at the ANA including a final-round 67 that vaulted her up the leaderboard. She also played in 2014 as an amateur, ending up tied for 26th.
Perhaps this week, she’ll be that bubbly Brooke once again.