To say that Brooke Henderson enjoyed her time at the Cambia Portland Classic last August would be a gross understatement.

Then 17, Henderson Monday qualified at Columbia Edgewater Country Club with a 4-under 68 and proceeded to card rounds of 66-67-65-69 to win her first professional tournament by a whopping eight strokes. Her performance dazzled the golfing world and set a 72-hole tournament record of 21-under-par.

Not only that, but Henderson’s victory marked just the second time in LPGA history that a Monday qualifier went on to win – the first occurring in 2000 – and was the first win by a Canadian since Lorie Kane in 2001. Pornanong Phatlum, Ha Na Jang and Candie Kung tied for a distant second, and Henderson’s statement convinced LPGA Tour Commissioner Mike Whan to grant her early membership to the association.

It was a watershed moment for the talented blonde teen.

“It’s amazing,” Henderson said after the win. “It’s such an unbelievable thing it’s not even real life yet I don’t think. I tried to just keep making more birdies. I had a number in mind, and I was trying to chase after it, and I was trying not to watch the girls I was playing with, Sandra (Gal) and Morgan (Pressel), or any other players.”

Instead, all other players watched Henderson race away with the trophy at the $1.3 million event. Henderson followed with her first major championship title – the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – on June 12, and she no doubt will be the favorite this week as the LPGA’s best head to scenic Portland, Ore., for four days of action at one of the Tour’s longest-standing tournaments.

With roots dating to 1972, the Cambia Portland Classic has seen some of the greatest players to ever play the game etch their names on the championship trophy. Players like Nancy Lopez, Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa, Juli Inkster, Patty Sheehan, Betsy King, Amy Alcott, Donna Caponi, JoAnne Carner and Kathy Whitworth, just to name a few legends, have all won the prestigious event.

Who will add theirs to the hardware on Sunday? Henderson would be a great bet to repeat, but she will have a host of other talented players to contend with during the four-day event. Fellow past Cambia Portland Classic champions like Austin Ernst (2014), Suzann Pettersen (2011, 2013), Mika Miyazato (2012), Ai Miyazato (2010) and Cristie Kerr (2008) are teeing it up this week, as are 2016 tournament winner Anna Nordqvist, two-time Rolex Players of the Year Stacy Lewis and Yani Tseng and last week’s top-five finishers Pressel, Angela Stanford and Kung are also in the field.

Longtime LPGA fans will also be delighted to see the likes of veteran stars like Karrie Webb, Brandie Burton, Michelle McGann, Wendy Ward, Heather Bowie Young, Jennifer Rosales, Candy Hannemann and A.J. Eathorne heading to Portland to play this week as well. They know a great golf course and welcoming hospitality when they see it, and it should be a fun and festive atmosphere on the West Coast all week.

This week’s event is the final chance for LPGA players to get in some valuable pressurized competition before the Tour’s third major of the season, the U.S. Women’s Open, next week in San Martin, Calif. It is also the seventh event in the LPGA’s 11-week summer stretch before a two-week break leading into the Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 15-21.

The summer sizzle is on, and this week it continues in one of the friendliest confines players will see all year. It should be a heck of a week!

Teen star Henderson returns to Portland to defend first pro title

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