16-Year-Old Brooke Henderson Steals the Spotlight at US Women's Open

 

In 2011 the Goderich Sunset Golf Club hosted the Ontario Provincial Junior Girls Championship Monday July 11th to Thursday July 14th.  This is where the elite junior girls in Ontario come together and play a three day tournament.  A recap of the results from 2011 states: Brooke Henderson and Brogan McKinnon were tied with a 72 after day one.  However Brooke and Brogan were both able to shoot under par. Brooke shot 67 and Brogan shot 69 on day two of competition.  Brooke’s 67 is a women’s record at the Goderich Sunset Golf Course from the blue tees.   Both girls pulled ahead of the group going forward into the final day with Brooke holding onto a two-shot advantage over Brogan.  The next closest to the girls was nine stroke difference.  Thursday was a beautiful day for golf and 13-year-old Brooke Henderson came to play.  She concluded the tournament with a cumulative even-par scoring total of 210 (72-67-71) allowing her to be deemed the Ontario Junior Girls Championship. 

Fast forward to 2014 and Brooke Henderson is still an amateur golfer and at the age of 16 competed in the U.S. Women’s Open making the cut and her way up the leaderboard as the week went on.  With her sister Brittney on the bag for her it was a fantastic week for the Henderson. 

Henderson from Smiths Falls, Ont has always had very ambitious goals to achieve and the US Women’s Open would be no different.  After playing four incredible rounds and a final score of 69 on Sunday she was honoured the crown of low-amateur golfer beating Minjee Lee (World’s Top Amateur) by three strokes.  Henderson was only 7 strokes behind the overall winner Michelle Wie.  

In a interview following her round when asked about finishing as low amateur with Minjee Lee still on the course Henderson was quoted saying: “Oh, it would be amazing,” she said. “There's a lot of great amateurs here. Coming in, I was trying to make the cut and then climb up the leaderboard, and I was able to do that. So I'm very happy.”

Its really quite amazing how much a year of playing, practicing and the mental aspect of a year can change where you finish.  Last year Brooke finished in 59th place.  This year she was tied for 10th.  

“It's very exciting, that's for sure. The best players in the world are here and to know that I'm right up there, it's really awesome,” Henderson said. “I still have a long way to go to where I want to be in the next couple years, but it's really exciting to know that I have the potential and it was a great finish here this week.”

The Gravett family and members of the Goderich Sunset Golf Club are beyond thrilled that Brookes hard work and dedication are paying off all over the world.  We wish her the best with the rest of the season and want her to know that we are always rooting for her!

 

Lucy Li- Takes to Pinehurst at Age 11...

Lucy Li just wants to have fun like any 11-year-old girl. Except that this week, she's playing the biggest event in women's golf.

The sixth-grader from Redwood Shores, California, near San Francisco, doesn't appear to be the least bit overwhelmed by the attention around her since she became the youngest qualifier in U.S. Women's Open history when she shot 68 at Half Moon Bay last month to win her sectional by seven shots. 

"She looks so darn cute," said onetime youth golf phenom Michelle Wie, who didn't make it to her first Women's Open until she was 13. "I was like, 'I don't think I looked that cute when I was 11.' But she just looks so excited, so wide-eyed … And I'm just really so excited for her to be out. It's a memory that will last her a lifetime. What other 11-year-old can say that they played in the U.S. Open at Pinehurst? And she got to see the men play, too." 
The pre-teen, who sports braces on her teeth, celebrated by having dinner at her favorite restaurant and watching The Amazing Spider-Man 2. 

Li only became serious about golf four years ago when she set up shop in Miami to work with Jim McLean. Just two months ago, Li won her age division in the inaugural Drive, Chip and Putt Championship at Augusta National. And now she's at Pinehurst No. 2, ready to take on the course where Martin Kaymer won the U.S. Open on Sunday.

"It's awesome, right?" she said, giggling as she answered questions from media. "I mean, Pinehurst and Augusta National in like two months. I mean, that's just amazing. It's mind-blowing for me. It's been awesome. The food is great and it's been a lot of fun. I've made a lot of friends."

Golf Digest: Sinks To a New Low....

 

For loyal viewers of my blog you all know how much I detest women who are involved with golf because of a boyfriend, fiancé, husband or family member who is part of the PGA and LPGA that have no respect for the game and the etiquette behind our dress code.  So when I was informed last week that one of my number one targets that I like to comment on is in fact on the cover of Golf Digest for this month’s issue in of course not appropriate golf clothing I was fuming…well that might be an understatement.   

Having said that I thought maybe I am jumping the gun and its fine because its their so called “fit issue.”  Then I get an e-mail from one of my members about a the “Globe and Mail” article on this very topic and think to myself this deserves some discussion on my blog. We all know sex sells however I never thought that Golf Digest was so desperate for revenue that they would stoop to this level and put a model on the cover who is not known of having any great golf talents just because she’s the fiancé of Dustin Johnson.   

So my first problem is the fact that she’s not even a talented golfer gracing the cover of Golf Digest.  Second problem is that she is portrayed as a sex object with that pose that has nothing to do with “fitness.”  It is degrading against women who have fought so hard to be seen as equals in the golf industry and in life.  I reviewed the article online and was even more upset at the lack of interview about anything important from Paulina.

Stacy Lewis, who has been featured on my blog from time to time who has won two major titles, has also never appeared on the cover of Golf Digest. Last year she was briefly No. 1 in the world on her way to winning the Vare Trophy for the tour’s lowest scoring average.

Asked for her reaction to the magazine’s cover choice, Lewis said: “It’s frustrating for female golfers. It’s kind of the state of where we’ve always been. We don’t get respect for being the golfers that we are. Obviously, Golf Digest is trying to sell magazines. But at the same time you’d like to see a little respect for the women’s game.”

Also from the article:

“Besides Gretzky, the only woman to be given sole billing on the cover without having won a pro or major amateur event is Golf Channel personality Holly Sonders, in May 2013. (Nicklaus’ wife, Barbara, appeared on the March 1975 cover with her husband’s instructor, Jack Grout.) Model Kate Upton posed alongside Arnold Palmer in December’s issue.”

According to the Times, only 11 women since 1969 have appeared alone on the cover of Golf Digest. One of those women, Juli Inkster, also vented her frustration with the magazine.

“It’s frustrating because it’s Golf Digest; it’s not Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue,” Inkster said, adding: “I think they should maybe recognize some of the great women golfers that we have. It’s like, What do you have to do to get a little respect? I’m guaranteeing you right now, it was not a woman editor who chose that cover.”

Inkster said: “OK, so I think next month the cover should be Paula Creamer’s fiancé, who’s a fighter pilot, or Brittany Lincicome’s hot boyfriend, who’s a long-drive hitter. Put one of them on there.”

Having a fitness issue is so important.  However when Paulina was asked about the poses for the day she said: “Those were hard! I had to hold those poses in the beaming sun for several seconds, all while trying to look pretty. And I was pretty sore the next morning.”  Several seconds and she has the audacity to complain.  No person that is gracing the cover of a magazine where the focus is fitness should complain about holding a pose for several seconds.  Obviously she does not practice yoga on a regular basis.

This issue of the Golf Digest is a joke.  It used to mean something when you got to grace the cover of Golf Digest that you had fulfilled a dream of being a champion in some sense.  Now they have taken that away from past people who have been on the cover.