ORLANDO, Fla.– Brooke Henderson establishes an objective of winning several LPGA Tour titles at the beginning of eachseason She really did not wait long to accumulate her very first prize of 2023.
Henderson was leading throughout and also supplied a 2-under 70 on Sunday at Lake Nona to finish a wire-to-wire triumph in the season- opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
In gusty and also occasionally tough problems, the 25-year-old from Canada played continuously, making certain not to provide much wish to a team behind her attempting to install any type of kind of difficulty. She started her day leading by 3 and also at some point won by 4, completing the occasion at 16-under 272. It was her 13th LPGA triumph.
“It is so exciting,” Henderson stated. “I always try to win a couple times each year, so to get one right way out of the gate takes a little bit of pressure off. … It’s exciting to be in contention, and even more exciting to hoist trophies.”
Henderson has actually had her eye on a Tournament of Champions title for some time. She had not completed beyond nine in case the previous 4 periods, and also she was a runner-up to Danielle Kang a year back. Sunday noted her 16th successive round under the same level on the LPGA dating to 2022 and also her 16th successive rating under the same level in this event.
Winning likewise assists her lay to rest an irritating end to 2022. She took out with a back injury in her second-to-last beginning at the Pelican Women’s Championship in November, and also handled the discomfort sufficient to link for 7th in the season- finishing CME Group Tour Championship.
From there, it was remainder and also rehabilitation prior to switching over to brand-new clubs. There were 14 brand-new clubs in her bag at Lake Nona, consisting of the putter, which aided to generate 19 birdies on a really solid examination of golf.
Henderson got in the weekat No 7 in the ladies’s globe position. She was asked if her season- opening up victory may unlock to various other large objectives, such as beingNo 1 or being the LPGA’s Player of the Year.
“That would be awesome,” Henderson stated. “Obviously, I had the dream start.”
Second- year LPGA pro Maja Stark of Sweden revealed a great completing kick by firing 5-under 31 on her last 9. She connected for 2nd together withEngland’s Charlie Hull Both shot 69, Hull doing so for the 4th successive day.
Stark has actually dedicated herself to including several hrs every week to her time invested exercising placing, and also it displayed in her warm play over the last 9 openings. Three over via 7, she birdied 6 of her last 10 openings.
“It gives me a lot of confidence,” Stark stated. “I feel I’ve had a good week with my driver and some good irons. The putting, too. I feel like if it keeps going like this, could be the best year yet.”
Hull was pleased with her coating provided the obstacles of attempting to obtain her video game prepared in England in midwinter. She invested 3 days exercising in Morocco prior to continuing to Orlando.
Henderson held your horses on Sunday, doing a lot of her damages on Lake Nona’s par fives, making birdies on 3 of them. When she birdied the nine opening, she had a 4-shot lead over Nelly Korda, and also she reconstructed the result in 4 once more with one last birdie at the par-5 15th.
Korda,at No 2 the highest-ranked gamer in this winners-only area sinceNo 1 Lydia Ko avoided the event after marrying, made just 3 birdies and also gone for 4th momentarily successive year. For Korda, the week was a story of 2 nines; she played the front 9 in 1 under the same level for the week, and also the 2nd 9 in 10 under. Henderson was 10 under on the front 9.
“Yeah, the front nine and I didn’t really get along too well,” stated Korda, that fired 72 onSunday “Hopefully next year we’ll become better friends.”
Korda stated she was let down with the result, however having actually played her very first event with brand-new devices, at the very least she had a strategy moving forward.
“What’s good is that I have a lot to work and I’m very excited about it,” she stated. “I have four weeks [off from the tour] to kind of grind and see where my game is.”
Tennis gamer and also previous Davis Cup captain Mardy Fish ran away with the celeb department, making 152 factors in the Modified Stableford layout. Fish likewise won the title 2 years back. Former MLB bottle Mark Mulder (136 factors) was runner-up.
Annika Sorenstam, a 72-time champion on the LPGA Tour and also Lake Nona homeowner that played amongst the celebs and also professional athletes, connected for 3rd with army expert Chad Pfeifer.
