NO DAYS OFF FOR HENDERSON
Canadian sensation Brooke Henderson’s 2016 season, which featured two wins and 13 additional top-10 finishes (second on Tour), is certainly a tough act to follow. She had just two top 10s through her first 14 starts of 2017, but has been on top of her game in the past month.
“Yeah, you know, things have really gotten better since I won Meijer a few weeks ago,“ Henderson said. “My world ranking came back down, and it gave me a lot of confidence moving forward for the rest of the summer. I played great last week, as well. I would have liked to have finished a little better, but any time that you’re shooting under par and finishing strong in majors, it definitely gives you a lot of confidence.”
Henderson, No. 8 in the Rolex Rankings, has been rolling over her last five five starts. She captured her fourth career LPGA victory at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. She promptly following that up with a runner-up finish at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, falling one shot shy in her title defense at the major championship. After a slightly disappointing T28 showing at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic, Henderson collected a T13 finish at last week’s U.S. Women’s Open and feels great about where her game is at right now.
“I’ve been playing really solid golf,” Henderson said, “and I feel like my game is in a great place, and I’m just kind of trying to ride the momentum through and see if I can get some top finishes. I’m going to take an extra week off, so my next event is the British Open, so I’m trying to think of this as a gear-up and kind of get ready for it.”
QUOTABLE
“It will be a big deal, and I feel like I’ve learned how to play this golf course better and better over the last couple years, and like I said, I’m looking for a low-key week, and that usually leads to good golf for me.” - Stacy Lewis on winning this week’s Marathon Classic
“I definitely had a lot of expectations going into this year, and winning at Meijer a few weeks ago really helped put some of those expectations -- kind of checked them off a little bit and kind of get back to -- when and how I play great golf is kind of when I’m a little bit more relaxed but still demanding a lot of myself. I feel like I really learned a lot over the last few months, and I feel like moving forward, I’m in a really good place, being able to challenge for some more titles before the end of this year.”- Brooke Henderson on how she’s playing this season after a banner year in 2016
QUICK HITS
In 10 starts at the Marathon Classic, Stacy Lewis has eight made cuts, six top 25s and two top 10s, with a career-best fifth place finish in 2016.
Lewis has gone 78 events without a win, with her last victory coming at the 2014 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship; in that timespan, Lewis has 12 runner-up finishes.
In 15 starts this season, Lewis has five top-10 finishes, with a season-best runner-up finish at the Bank of Hope Founders Cup.
Lewis’ eight eagles is the most among all LPGA players this season.
Brooke Henderson has played in 18 of 19 events in 2017, tied for second most among all players behind only Megan Khang, who has played every tournament. In 2016, Henderson led the LPGA by playing in 31 of 33 tournaments.
Henderson finished T13 at last week’s U.S. Women’s Open; she has yet to finish outside the top 15 at any of the three major championships this season.
In 18 starts this season, Henderson has 14 top-25 finishes and four top-10 finishes.
Henderson is making her second start in Sylvania this week; last year she finished T38.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT
Marathon Petroleum Corporation
- The tournament’s mission to support children’s charities drove MPC to begin serving as the title sponsor in 2013
- MPC’s involvement has helped extend the reach of the tournament by engaging employees, business partners and customers and they are dedicated to continuing to grow this tournament’s great legacy
- MPC donates millions of dollars to dozens of national, state and local charities in the areas of arts and culture, education, environment, health and human services, and more. Beyond corporate financial contributions, MPC employees donate countless hours toward improving the communities where they live and work, putting corporate citizenship into action