ORLANDO, FLORIDA | Last November, the week after the CME Group Tour Championship, Brooke Henderson got her wisdom teeth removed. They had been bothering her since her Amundi Evian Championship victory in July, and she wasn’t convinced they didn’t contribute to the upper-back pain she experienced late in the year.
After the oral surgery, she was home in Naples, Florida, “looking like a chipmunk” as she said, and a family member said, “Well, at least now you can take a couple of weeks off and relax.”
Henderson shook her head at that suggestion and said, “No, I want to win the Hilton.”
She meant the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, the season-opening event at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club which features a celebrity division playing alongside LPGA Tour winners from the past two years. This year, 29 tour players teed off in perfect conditions in Orlando, a far cry from the bitter cold a year ago when Henderson finished runner-up to Danielle Kang.
This year, Henderson looked like a player on a mission from the opening shot until the last putt.
She achieved her first goal of 2023 with an exclamation point. Playing all new TaylorMade equipment – including a Spider GT putter allowing her to feel comfortable with her alignment and make a freer stroke – the now 13-time LPGA Tour winner put on a show, hitting 40 fairways and 56 greens for the week and firing rounds of 67-66-69 before closing with a 70 for a 16-under 272 total and four-shot victory over Maja Stark and Charley Hull.
“This week is unbelievable. The atmosphere is so much fun playing alongside the celebrities and all the fans that come out. A lot of Canadians out here, too, so just an incredible week. Great way to start the new year.”
Brooke Henderson
Nelly Korda finished five back after failing to get anything going on Sunday and shooting 72.
“It's amazing,” Henderson said. “This week is unbelievable. The atmosphere is so much fun playing alongside the celebrities and all the fans that come out. A lot of Canadians out here, too, so just an incredible week. Great way to start the new year.”
On the celebrity front, retired tennis star Mardy Fish ran away from the competition, putting up 152 Stableford points for a 16-point victory over retired Major League Baseball pitcher Mark Mulder.
There also was an amateur edition, which included players who qualified into the field through various means. That one was won by Ashleen Kaur, who got into the field by winning the Annika Invitational, an AJGA event held early in the week.
It doesn’t seem that long ago that Henderson was a junior golfer. She won her first LPGA Tour event at age 17. Now, she’s 25 and more than halfway to the total points needed for membership in the LPGA Hall of Fame.
“I always try to win a couple times each year, so to get one right away out of the gate takes a little bit of pressure off,” Henderson said. “I just love playing out here on the LPGA against the best in the world every week. It's exciting to be in contention and even more exciting to hoist trophies.”
Steve Eubanks