Henderson was named the Canadian Press female athlete of the year for 2015, 2017 and 2018.[3][4][5] She won her first major at age 18 in 2016 at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, becoming the event's youngest winner.[6] With 13 LPGA wins as of January 2023, Henderson has the most victories of any Canadian golfer on major professional tours.[7][8] She won her second career major title at the 2022 Evian Championship.[9][10]
In November 2019, she was named the winner of the 2019 Founders Award by a vote of fellow golfers on the LPGA Tour as someone "whose behaviour and deeds best exemplify the spirit, ideals, and values of the LPGA."[11]
Early years, family and education
Henderson was raised in Smiths Falls, Ontario and initially learned golf at the Rideau Lakes Golf and Country Club.[12] Her parents are Dave and Darlene.[12] Henderson's sister, Brittany – older by seven years and a former professional player[13][14] – was a role model for Henderson to play golf competitively.[12] Henderson attended the Smiths Falls District Collegiate Institute through 2014.[14]
To begin the 2023 season, Henderson signed a multiyear sponsorship with TaylorMade for her golf clubs, bag, and balls.[25] In 2024, she began a sponsorship with T-Mobile,[26] and entered a multiyear partnership with the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League in which she will display the Senators logo on her water bottles and golf towels.[27]
Beginning in 2017, Henderson is a resident touring professional at Miromar Lakes Beach and Golf Club in Miromar Lakes, Florida.[28]
Professional career
2015
Henderson set a tournament record with her 36-hole score at the LPGA Tour's Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic in April 2015, at the Lake Merced Golf Club, just south of San Francisco. Her second round 65 (−7) gave her 135 (−9), breaking the record set by Stacy Lewis in 2014 by three shots.[29] She finished third, one stroke behind Lydia Ko, the playoff winner, and runner-up Morgan Pressel.[30]
At age 17, Henderson had to play her way into LPGA Tour events through Monday qualifiers, and to rely on sponsor exemptions, after her request for an age waiver to compete at the LPGA Tour Q School in late 2014 was denied.[17] She earned a Symetra Tour card after winning her first event as a professional, the Four Winds Invitational in Indiana in June 2015.[31] With a final round 66 (−4), Henderson tied for fifth at the U.S. Women's Open in July.
After Monday-qualifying for the Cambia Portland Classic in Oregon in August, Henderson won the event by eight shots, the largest victory margin on tour since 2012, and became the tour's third-youngest winner.[32] She was only the second Monday qualifier to win on tour,[32] and the first since Laurel Kean in 2000.[33] Henderson was also the first Canadian to win on the LPGA Tour since Lorie Kane in 2001,[32][33] and was granted immediate LPGA Tour membership.[34]
2016
In June 2016, Henderson won her first major championship, at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club near Seattle. Her final round 65 (−6) propelled her into a tie with top-ranked Lydia Ko, followed by a playoff which Henderson won with a birdie on the first hole.[6][35] At age 18, she became the youngest to win that major, the second-youngest in any women's major, and the first Canadian woman to win a major in 48 years. It was Henderson's second tour win, both in the Pacific Northwest, and her first as a tour member; it moved her from fourth to second in the world rankings.
Before the 2024 Women's PGA Championship at Sahalee Country Club, the club provided Henderson with an honorary membership and a commemorative plaque at the spot in the 18th fairway where she hit a 7 iron close to the hole to win the 2016 event.[36]
With her win as defending champion at the Cambia Portland Classic in June 2016, Henderson joined Sandra Post and Lorie Kane as the only Canadians to win multiple LPGA events in the same season.[37]
By finishing second (to Ariya Jutanugarn) in the 2018 season-ending Race to the CME Globe, Henderson was awarded $150,000 from the bonus pool purse.[44] She was awarded the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award in December 2018 as The Canadian Press Female Athlete of the Year for the third time.[5]
On 16 June 2019, Henderson won the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan for the second time – the third LPGA event where she has multiple victories. This was her ninth victory on the LPGA, giving her the most victories on major tours of any professional golfer in Canadian history.[45]
Henderson won her second career major at the 2022 Evian Championship, in which she was the first player in LPGA history to begin a major with two rounds of 64 or lower.[9][10]
On 12 November, the day after shooting a first round, one-over-par 71 at the Pelican Women's Championship, she wrote in a statement that she had to withdraw, "due to an injury in my upper back, 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 of the support."[46]
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