WORLD NO. 2 RETURNS TO THE SITE OF FIRST CAREER VICTORY
Defending champion Brooke Henderson returns to the site of her first career LPGA Tour victory this week at the 45th playing of the Cambia Portland Classic. The Tour’s longest running non-major tournament will once again take place at Columbia Edgewater Country Club after returning and changing from a 54-hole event to a 72-hole contest in 2013.
In 2015, Henderson became just the second player in LPGA history to win an event after Monday qualifying, joining Laurel Kean (2000 State Farm Classic) and the first Canadian to win on the LPGA since Lorie Kane (2001 LPGA Takefuji Classic).
Henderson took a five-shot lead into the final round and pushed it to an eight-shot win, the largest margin of victory on Tour in 2015. Her four-day score of 21-under par was also a new tournament record.
“It’s hard to explain what that feeling was like,” Henderson said in a recent interview. “All last year I was trying to get my LPGA Tour card, which was a dream of mine since I was a little girl. The dream was to win on the LPGA Tour, and all of that came true on that Sunday.”
At age 17, Henderson joined Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson as the only players ever to win on the LPGA before their 18th birthday. Now, the Canadian superstar is a major champion and has risen all the way to No. 2 in the Rolex Rankings.
Five other former champions will play alongside Henderson this week in Portland: Americans Austin Ernst (2014) and Cristie Kerr (2008), Norway’s Suzann Petterson (2013, 2011), as well as Japan’s Mika Miyazato (2012) and Ai Miyazato (2010).
BROOKE HENDERSON - SINCE LAST YEAR'S WIN
- Major Wins: 1 (2016 KPMG PGA Championship)
- Runner-ups: 1 (2016 COATES Golf Championship Presented by R+L CARRIERS)
- Top-10 finishes: 10 (in 21 starts)
- Rounds in the 60s: 29 (in 21 starts)
- Change in Rolex Ranking: No. 32 --> No. 2 (Rose 30 spots)
- Money earned: $1,191,009 (3rd on 2016 money list with $1,090,715)
- Cuts made: 20-of-21 starts (Missed cut last week)
SPONSOR EXEMPTIONS, QUALIFIERS HOPE TO SHINE IN DEBUTS
Several players will be competing in their first LPGA tournament this week in Portland. Recent Stanford graduate Mariah Stackhouse, who led the Cardinal to the 2015 NCAA Championship and the 2016 NCAA finals, is making her professional debut as the recipient of the tournament’s first sponsor’s exemption. The second exemption was given to 19-year-old Naomi Eun Young Ko, the Victoria, British Columbia native who won the Cambia Portland Classic Amateur Open on June 1.
A third sponsor’s exemption was granted to Oregon alum and Eugene native Caroline Inglis on Monday. Inglis received the invite after the spot reserved for the winner of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G was left unfilled, as Rolex Rankings No. 1 Lydia Ko had opted out of this week’s tournament.
The players that secured spots in the fi eld this week in the Monday local qualifier were amateur Mariel Galdiano (69) and Tracy Stanford (72).
ROAD TO RIO CONTINUES
This week’s field at the Cambia Portland Classic features 21 players from 16 different countries that would compete in the 2016 Olympic Games as qualifying currently stands.
Three potential Olympians who are in this week's field finished in the top-8 last week at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G: Candie Kung (T2), Giulia Molinaro (T8) and Alena Sharp (T8).
Below is a breakdown of players in the field this week currently slated to represent their countries in Rio:
- Canada - Brooke Henderson, Alena Sharp
- Colombia - Mariajo Uribe
- France - Karine Icher
- Germany - Caroline Masson
- Great Britain - Catriona Matthew
- Israel - Laetitia Beck
- Italy - Giulia Sergas, Giulia Molinaro
- Mexico - Alejandra Llaneza, Gaby Lopez
- Netherlands - Christel Boeljon
- Norway - Suzann Petterson
- Paraguay - Julieta Grenada
- South Africa - Lee-Anne Pace, Paula Reto
- Spain - Carlota Ciganda
- Sweden - Anna Nordqvist, Pernilla Lindberg
- Taiwan - Candie Kung
- United States - Stacy Lewis
YOUTH NUMBERS TO KNOW
Through the first 18 events of the 2016 season:
- 21.12 - Average age of winners
- 1 - Number of winners over the age of 23 (Anna Nordqvist, 28)
- 2 - Players who have won three tournaments, both under the age of 21 (Ariya Jutanugarn, 20; Lydia Ko, 19)
- 10 - Events won by players 21 years old and under
- 9 - The top nine players on the 2016 official money list are all under the age of 25
- 18 - Age of both major winners (Lydia Ko - ANA Inspiration; Brooke Henderson - KPMG Women's PGA Championship)
- 6 - Six of the top-10 players in the Rolex Rankings are 23 years old or younger
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