Henderson looking to cap off stellar season

Brooke Henderson has enjoyed one of the best years of her career in 2022. This week, she has the opportunity to finish it off in style.

Henderson tees off Thursday in the LPGA Tour’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship with the top 60 golfers playing at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla., for a $2 million first prize, the richest in women’s golf.

But she’ll do it with an ailing back. On Tuesday, she issued a statement saying the reason for pulling out of last week’s Pelican Women’s Championship was due to an upper-back injury.

“After withdrawing from last week’s event due to an injury in my upper back,” stated Henderson in a release, “it was recommended that I rest as much as possible coming into the week. While I plan to address any medical concerns and recover fully in the off-season, I am trying to do everything I can to compete this week. I appreciate all the support.”

The injury comes as Henderson is in a battle for Player of the Year on the LPGA Tour. She sits tied in third place, 20 points back of leader Lydia Ko. She is also tied for fourth in the Race to the CME Globe, another season-long award that will be decided this week.

The Smiths Falls, Ont., product has had an impressive year, arguably the best of her career. The highlight was undoubtedly winning the Amundi Evian Championship, her second major title. In addition to that victory, she ended up inside the top 16 in the other four majors, including a tie for seventh at the Women’s British Open.

The 25-year-old also captured the ShopRite LPGA Classic and finished in the top 10 on nine occasions. She earned just over $2.3 million, a career-high, and it marked the fifth year in which Henderson has won multiple events with her tally sitting at a Canadian-record 12.

Heading into the CME Group Championship, Henderson’s scoring average sits at an impressive 69.50, fifth best on the LPGA Tour, and the lowest mark of her career. Of the 72 rounds she’s played this season, 52 have been under par.

Many of those low scores were due to an improvement in her putting, traditionally one of the weaker links in her game. Her putting average moved from 30.60 and 111th to 29.93 and 71st. In the overall picture, she sat second, behind Ko, in Strokes Gained: Total.

The strong season also had a few bumps in it early on. For the first time in her career, Henderson missed two cuts consecutively after failing to break par at both the DIO Implant LA Open and the Palos Verdes Championship. That dropped her to 12th in the Rolex Rankings, her lowest mark since 2018. But the two wins coupled with three more top-10s moved her to sixth.

Now she approaches the last event on the schedule with an injury, the first significant ailment of her tenure on the LPGA Tour. The seriousness of the back problem is not known but it seems likely that she might be sitting out this week if not for the rich prize, season-ending laurels and the knowledge that there is a break following the tournament that will allow for some recovery.

In the coming weeks, Henderson’s brilliant season will be judged against other Canadian athletes in year-end awards. Will she capture athlete of the year? She has certainly given those casting votes a lot to think about.