Most golfers have to wait to leave the 18th hole before celebrating a win with their family. For Brooke Henderson, she merely had to turn to her left.
Rolling home her birdie putt to clinch the Evian Championship, the Canadian collected her ball before embracing her caddie, her sister Brittany, to check that she had indeed just secured her second major win.
“Did we really do this?” she asked.
As well as ending a six-year wait for a major title after victory at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in 2016, it also marked the 24-year-old’s 12th win on the LPGA Tour, extending her lead as the most successful Canadian golfer in history.
In 11 of those 12 wins, Brittany — seven years her senior — was on the bag offering guidance. Far from a sibling rivalry, Henderson and her sister have long been a perfect team.
“I definitely couldn’t do this without her,” Henderson, still soaked in champagne and water from the celebrations, told reporters.
“Traveling around the world and getting to experience amazing places like this, it makes it more special being able to do it with her.
“She really keeps me in line out there and having her expertise, knowledge and guidance all the time … I’m just really grateful.”
On a deciding day where just two shots would ultimately separate the champion from the five players tied in third, the Canadian started poorly with two bogeys and a double bogey by the 11th hole to see her initial two-stroke lead chipped away.
And as Sophia Schubert drained back-to-back birdies to nudge ahead at the 12th, Henderson faced the challenging prospect of staying positive while a major championship looked in danger of slipping away.
“It was very difficult, sometimes easier said than done in those situations,” she said. “I put myself in a position I didn’t really want to be in.
“Brit was really key, reminding me that ‘we’re still in it, just relax and hit good shots. Try to hit fairways, try to hit greens. Just keep it simple.'”
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The advice hit home, as Henderson shot two birdies at the 14th and 15th holes to arrive at the 18th tied for the lead with Schubert. And when the American’s putt rolled agonizingly around the cup, Henderson knew a successful conversion of her own eight-foot birdie chance would crown her a two-time major winner.
