Women's Open Preview: Henderson hoping for win at historic St. Andrews

The final major championship of the year on the LPGA Tour is heading to the most iconic venue of the season — the Old Course at St. Andrews.

Returning to the Home of Golf for the first time since 2013, the decade-long drought has an entire generation of golfers wondering if this will be the only chance they’ll have at history at the AIG Women’s Open.

That includes Canada’s Brooke Henderson, who continues to hunt for her first win of the season.

“This is set to be a great week for women’s golf at St. Andrews. It’s the place that every golfer hopes to get to play at some point in their life and to be able to play it at a major is really special,” Henderson told Sportsnet. “The history here is so incredible; it provides a great setting for the final major of the year.”

Henderson missed the cut at last year’s Women’s British Open but finished tied for seventh the year prior at Muirfield and tied for 13th the year before that at Carnoustie — iconic Open Championship venues, both.

Henderson has taken the longest to get adjusted to links golf in her career, but she tends to always step up at major championships, no matter the setting. She sits second in strokes gained: total at majors on the LPGA Tour since 2021.

Henderson has long said that she feels like she’s “close” to finally breaking through for a win on the LPGA Tour. It’s not easy, of course, and the numbers indeed reflect her personal assumption — she’s sixth on the LPGA Tour in greens in regulation this season, and fifth in rounds under par. She’s also 13th in strokes gained: total, and has notched seven top-10 finishes, including a tie for third at the first major of the year.

Henderson sits 98th in putting average for the season, however, the lone part of her game that may be holding her back from tilting a trophy at this point in the season.

The Canadian would like nothing more than to put it all together this week and break her winless drought through 2024 in a major way.

“Like any of the big events throughout the year, I try to put together a plan to peak during those times. Throughout the year I’ve seen different parts of my game trending in the right direction. I have a lot of trust in that process and feel like this is an awesome time to really pull it all together,” Henderson said.

It's set to be a dramatic week regardless of the end result Sunday, with the Scottish weather predicted to wreak havoc on the players. For Thursday’s opener, the forecast is calling for wind gusts of up to 60 km/h at times. The wind will stay steady through the balance of the week, with rain also being a factor.

Most of the field teed it up at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open last week, a perfect prep for this week’s major.

“I think last week was perfect warm-up to come here. There was so much wind, so much rain, and I felt like I was a little rusty with my flighted shots, and it's slowly getting better every single day,” said Lilia Vu, the defending champion. “I think I'm not putting too much pressure on myself to defend a title. I mean, it's a new week at a new golf course. I'm just going to show up to the tournament the same way I do every single time and try to beat the course every day if it allows with the weather.”

Vu won her second major of the season at last year’s AIG Women’s Open at Walton Heath, topping second-place Charley Hull by a whopping six shots. Vu took a multi-month break earlier this season after battling a back injury but won her very first start back on Tour in June. She followed that up with a tie for second in her second event back, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

They’re all chasing the hottest player in women’s golf right now, however, Lauren Coughlin. Coughlin, who won the CPKC Women’s Open in Calgary four weeks ago, also captured the Women’s Scottish Open last Sunday in a four-shot romp. She comes into this week having notched four straight top-10s (two of them wins) and is third on Tour in scoring average and greens in regulation. The difference this season, she said, has been with her putter. She was 123rd in strokes gained: putting last year but is 12th this year — up an astronomical 111 spots.

“(The Solheim Cup is) still probably three weeks, four weeks away, so I’m trying to keep my game as sharp as I possibly can going into that, and these next few weeks, especially next week, too, with The Open,” Coughlin said Sunday after her win. “I think that's kind of what I’ve been thinking — just trying to keep what's working, working and fine-tune maybe things here or there but just keep doing the same things that I've been doing.”

What Coughlin has been doing, lately, is winning. Between her hot streak, Vu’s resurgence, and Nelly Korda’s continual effort as the game’s top-ranked player (with six victories already in 2024, including a major), the best female golfers in the world are eager to put on a show at an iconic venue.

And that includes Canada’s best.

“I would love to try to make some history of my own at this special place,” Henderson said.