LPGA Tournament: At the LPGA’s season-opening Tournament of Champions on Sunday in Orlando, Florida, Brooke Henderson played a strong final round to defeat England’s Charley Hull and win by a decisive margin.
At Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, the 25-year-old Canadian finished at 16-under par, holding a four-shot lead after just two rounds. He was the only player in the lead after each round.
Her final round of two under par gave her a third straight victory and her 13th LPGA championship. Last year, she finished second in this competition.
Maja Stark of Sweden and Hull each shot a final-round 69 to tie for second place at 12 under, four strokes behind Henderson.
When Henderson won his first race, he commented on NBC, “I always hope to win a couple of times each year, so to have one right away right out of the gate takes a little bit of weight off. I just love competing against the best in the world every week out here on the LPGA Tour.”
With a long chip across the green on the par-five second hole, Henderson made a birdie, positioning herself for a short putt. The par-three sixth was her only bogey of the day, but she recovered with birdies at the par-five ninth and 15th holes.
Despite having back problems the previous year, Henderson managed to win two competitions, including the Evian Championship, the season’s fifth and last major. Over the winter, she changed out all of her equipment and had her wisdom teeth removed.
Henderson remarked, “There was obviously a lot of patience required, especially early in the offseason. There were numerous significant alterations and numerous other things, but everything turned out perfectly.”
The seventh-ranked player in the world wasn’t badly jeopardised on Sunday.
😁🤳🏆#LPGAWinnerSelfie | @BrookeHenderson pic.twitter.com/paRerqUdxX
— LPGA (@LPGA) January 22, 2023
Hull’s hopes were all but dashed when she made a double bogey on the par-three sixth hole, but she swiftly bounced back with birdies on her following two holes.
Hull’s back nine was eventful, with three birdies and two more bogeys, and she concluded her round at three under.
Prior to recovering with six birdies over her final 10 holes, Stark bogeyed three of her opening seven holes.
Global No. 2 Nelly Korda, who was three strokes behind Henderson at the start of the day and tied for second place, could only manage a par 72 with three birdies and three bogeys. At 11 under, she finished fourth.
“I was hitting it with my driver extremely good. I was just not making good shots,” Korda admitted. “In a left-to-right breeze, I was letting myself extremely long putts that I normally wouldn’t, and then I kind of double-crossed a couple this week, which I don’t remember the last time I did that.”
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