Hours earlier, Brooke Henderson was flashing that mega-watt smile for cameras while she hoisted a massive trophy over her head and kissed it and got doused in mostly water because she’s still three years away from her first legal sip of champagne in the U.S.
She had been a major champion for a few hours. She had been the world’s No. 2-ranked golfer for a few hours. But it seemed like it had all sunk in in a hurry.
That new world ranking is “kinda unbelievable,” the 18-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., said, in a conference call on Monday morning after her sudden-death playoff win at the Women’s PGA Championship in Sammamish, Wash.
And then, in the next breath, the newly-minted World No.-2 ranked golfer added: “I’ve still got one more spot to go.”
The kid—in case you hadn’t noticed, while watching her best World No. 1 Lydia Ko in a playoff Sunday at the Women’s PGA Championship to become just the third Canadian in history to win one of golf’s majors and the second-youngest female ever—has composure beyond her years.
You could not tell if you tuned in on Sunday, but Henderson, the well-spoken blond-haired kid from just outside Ottawa, swears she was a little nervous at times during her final round.
“Especially on that three-footer, to win,” she said. “Knowing that all I had to do was make this little putt to beat Lydia Ko in a playoff to win my first major championship, my hands were shaking so badly. But somehow I was able to knock it in.”
The shot that won the championship, though, came right before that—her approach in the playoff on No. 18 against Ko, who was vying for her third straight major title.
Henderson watched Ko’s approach shot, a beauty that got the crowd cheering. Then she accounted for the fact that she’d have a little bit of extra adrenalin flowing, so she picked a shorter club than she’d normally hit, wanting to put it a couple feet short.
Henderson didn’t realize how well she striped it until she was walking up the fairway.
“I heard the crowd kinda go wild, and I was like, “OK, it must be pretty good.’ But I wasn’t getting too excited or too happy, because I knew Lydia hit a good shot in there, and she’s a really good putter,” she said.
“I just kinda patiently walked up to the green. Britt [Henderson’s older sister, caddie, and fellow pro golfer] told me it was like 10 feet past the pin. And I got up there and it just looked closer and closer and closer, and I was like, ‘OK, this is really nice.'”
Three feet from the hole kind of nice.
Henderson points out you never want to see someone miss a putt. But Ko missed her opportunity for birdie.
“I knew this was my chance,” she said.
And so, with shaking hands, she made good on it, earning her first major championship, her second title on the LPGA Tour, and a $525,000 winner’s cheque.
Henderson’s sudden death win came at the end of quite the four-day stretch. She opened this tournament using a brand new Ping putter, and it worked well. She made an incredible Eagle putt on 11 that got things rolling for her final-round, bogey-free 65.
“I made so many putts,” she said, with a bit of a laugh.
On Thursday, in her first round, she made a hole-in-one on No. 13—which she only later realized was “the car hole”—to win a brand new Kia, which she gave to Britt. She’d always promised any car-winning holes-in-one would go to her sister. “I didn’t say it this week, but I’m very happy to give it to her,” Henderson said.
Her father, Dave, is her coach, but he wasn’t there on Sunday. Henderson called her parents in the middle of taking pictures and getting congratulatory hugs, and then called them again a little later once things had calmed down. She can’t wait to see them tonight. Her mom isn’t a golf fan, but she cheers “loud and proud.”
She had more than 85 text messages when she first looked at her phone Sunday night following the win, and more came flooding in. She hadn’t heard from Sidney Crosby or Justin Trudeau yet via Twitter, but said she’s keeping an eye on her notifications.
Sandra Post, the last and only other Canadian woman to win a major (in 1968) was on the conference call on Monday with Henderson to offer her congratulations.
“Every golfer in Canada was glued to that round yesterday and you were really fearless and you never blinked,” Post said. “Majors are forever, and that’s how you sorta define careers and I have a great feeling that this isn’t going to be your last major.”
You get the feeling Henderson gets that same feeling.
Last fall, she was ranked 200-and-something in the world. This time last year, she was asking for sponsor’s invites. She wasn’t a member of the LPGA Tour. She hadn’t won on the LPGA Tour.
“Things, they’ve changed so dramatically, and so quickly,” Henderson said.
She’s 18. She’s the World No. 2, with an eye on that top spot. She is a major champion.
Surprised, though, that it happened so quickly? No, Henderson is not surprised.
“I knew it was possible,” she said. “My game’s in a really good spot and mentally I was really, really tough yesterday, which was kinda the key to winning, I believe.
“Looking forward, there’s still a few more major championships this year and a full schedule of LPGA Tour events, so I’m really excited, and maybe I’ll get another one.”