A Star is Born

After her phenomenal win at the Women’s PGA Championship last June, World number 2, Brooke Henderson poses a serious threat to Lydia Ko’s reign at the top.

- Peter Robinson

Brooke Henderson’s world has changed considerably in the past 18 months. But one thing has stayed constant since she first started to gain notice barely into her teens, possessed with a smile as crisp and impressive as her tee shots.

Everything is, and remains, well, cool.

It’s the word she has consistently used to describe her ascent to the World No. 2 ranking, behind only Lydia Ko.

It’s not as though the bright and articulate 18-year-old (she turns 19 in September) doesn’t have a more diversified vocabulary. Like her wide and varied game, she’s plenty capable of a similar discourse. But whether it’s being asked to describe the feeling of winning several hundred thousand dollars not long after turning pro as a 17-year-old, or hearing the crowd erupt at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, only to realise it was erupting for her, everything could be described in one simple word: Cool.

And now Henderson is very hot at the same time.

A RIVALRY IN THE MAKING

As a result of winning her first major championship at the Women’s PGA in June at Sahalee Country Club just outside Seattle, Henderson could be setting herself up as the ying to Ko’s yang; creating a rivalry women’s golf has needed since the retirements of Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa.

“Lydia is an amazing player and someone who I have looked up to,” said Henderson. “What she has done at such a young age is great for women’s golf. She’s an amazing player but she’s also an amazing person…It has been an honour to watch her play, practise and to play (against her), the whole way she does it.”