A mindset shift, past champion status and plenty of momentum from the previous major have put Brooke Henderson in the mix at the Amundi Evian Championship once again.

Henderson, who won in 2022 on the shores of Lake Geneva, shot a 4-under 67 to open this year’s Amundi Evian Championship after going 3 under for her final three holes – including nearly holing her approach for an albatross on the par-5 9th hole, her final hole of the day.

“Tried to put a really good swing on it and ended up hitting it to about a foot, foot and a half away. Really nice way to finish the round, finish the day. Makes everything feel a lot better,” Henderson said. “And then just go into tomorrow hopefully keeping that momentum.”

Momentum has been hard to come by so far in 2026 for Henderson. Prior to the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, she had recorded just one top-20 finish on the season – a solo third at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. That was the last event she had her sister, Brittany Henderson, caddying for her before Brittany pivoted her focus to her impending motherhood.

Her daughter, Sahalee June, was born the morning of the first round of the KPMG Women’s PGA, and mother and daughter are happy and healthy. Brooke was then forced to adjust to life without her best friend on the road. It took a while, but another caddie shift earlier this spring is starting to pay dividends.

Henderson finished tied for 22nd at the U.S. Women’s Open presented by Ally after a tidy finishing round saw her return to the usual level of impressive tee-to-green effort. Then, at the KPMG Women’s PGA, Henderson found herself in the final group on Sunday and held the sole lead in the early part of the day at Hazeltine. Her final-round run eventually stalled, but Henderson ended up tied for third and statistically was one of the best ball-strikers in the field in Minnesota.

Things were looking up, and she returned to the Evian Championship with a solid game plan, even though her caddie – her cousin, Ryan Henderson – had some lessons to learn.

“He was playing on the video game all last week, so he got a good feel for it there, which was awesome,” Henderson said with a smile. “I think it's really nice to have played here as many times as I have. There have been a few changes this year so just trying to get used to those ones. Just overall strategy of this place I feel like has worked really well for me in the past, so it gives me some confidence going into each round.

“You just try to stick to your strategy the best you can and try to get it under par.”

Henderson, who finished second in her title defense at the Evian Championship in 2023, bogeyed her third hole of the day – the par-4 12th – but got it back into red figures with birdies on Nos. 15 and 18. She added another birdie on the par-3 2nd before ending with her aforementioned flourish. In all, Henderson was 5 under just on the par-5s on Thursday.

Through 2026, Henderson had struggled with her opening rounds. Prior to the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, she was well into the hundreds on the LPGA Tour in first-round scoring average. She had a tidy start at Hazeltine, however, and her 4-under at Evian was her best Thursday round so far this season.

“A solid day all around […] bogeyed my third hole of the day so I was panicking a little bit. But just tried to stay really patient out there and tried to give myself a lot of opportunities, which we did, which is really exciting. Had a lot of good looks,” Henderson said.

It’s no surprise to see Henderson have some recent on-course success given how well things have been doing of late off the course.

Her niece is happy and healthy and her long-time boyfriend, baseball pitcher Ricky Castro, was just recently promoted to Triple-A in the Minnesota Twins’ system where he’s amassed a tidy 5-1 record so far this season. Like any professional athlete, Henderson has gone through ups and downs. But these days, the 14-time LPGA Tour winner wants to keep riding the wave of positivity.

“My mindset has not been that great the last couple years, so just continuing the work in progress, I guess. I feel I'm really close to being really good again and I feel like that's really exciting,” Henderson said.

“I feel like off the course my life is really great, so I feel like it's starting to come over into on the course, too, which is really awesome.”

Past-champion Brooke Henderson in the Mix Again at Amundi Evian Championship

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