She started as she needed to on Sunday, but ultimately Brooke Henderson could not sustain the pace she needed to capture a win at the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore.
The 19 year-old Canadian made birdies on six of her first ten holes in the final round of the limited field event. That allowed her to climb into a share of the lead at -14 after starting the day along a group in 11th place.
However, her push stalled after that as she made nothing but pars heading into the clubhouse and watched as Inbee Park went on a tear of her own to claim the title.
Park, only having recently returned after months off due to injury, was back to her usual form and turned in a final round 64, and a -19 total overall to win on the LPGA Tour for the 18th time.
Finishing just one stroke off the pace was Ariya Jutanugarn.
Henderson (67-70-71-66) ended up as part of a trio of golfers who shared 4th place. That included overnight leader Michelle Wie and Ha Na Jang.
Although Henderson made her early charge, she was betrayed by her putter slightly as she missed a few other short to mid-length opportunities that could have taken her even higher up the leaderboard.
“I got off to a great start, 5-under through nine holes, and only one birdie on the back,” she commented after the round. “But I gave myself a lot of great chances today and I was able to capitalize on a lot of them. It was nice to see my name up on the leaderboard, so hopefully over the next few weeks I’ll see more of that.”
Being outside of the upper tier of the leaderboard to start the day, Henderson played well ahead of the leaders so she tried to set a number for both them, and herself.
“I was trying to get to 16, but I was an outside chance and I got to 14, so I’m pretty happy,” she shared. She had started the final round eight strokes off the lead.
With two ties for 21st to her credit as her best finishes among her three previous starts this year, Henderson was more than pleased at her latest result and being back in the mix for a title. In 2016 she won two times, including a major.
Just as fans around the world were, she enjoyed watching her name rise on the leaderboard.
“Yeah, it was really cool coming around the turn, and even before that, I saw my name starting to climb. At one point I was tied for the lead I think.Would have been nice to finish off with a few more birdies, but I’m happy to finish inside the Top-10 and see more of my name on the leaderboard in future weeks.”
She added, “I think this was a real turning point hopefully and I feel like my game has really improved since the start of the season. So I’m really looking forward to Phoenix in two weeks and hopefully with the first major of the year coming up, hopefully my game will be right there.”
Henderson will now head to Phoenix early for a week off where she will test some new equipment at sponsor, PING. She’ll then stick around town to play in the LPGA Bank of Hope Founders event. It begins March 16th.
Henderson earned (USD) $65,589 for her efforts in Singapore. She is projected to rise from 30th to 11th place in the Race To The CME Globe.
The only other Canadian in the field, Alena Sharp, earned 59th place. (75-74-74-71).
