Brooke Henderson (Canada) won the first-ever ‘wire-to-wire’ championship at the Hilton Tournament of Champions (total prize money of $1.5 million), the opening match of the LPGA tour season. .
Henderson hit 2 under par 70 with 3 birdies and 1 bogey on the final day of the tournament held at the Lake Nona Golf & Country Club (par 72, 6617 yards) in Orlando, Florida, USA on the 23rd (Korean time). Henderson, who recorded a final total of 16 under par 272 strokes, beat Maya Stark (Sweden) and Charlie Hull (England), who were tied for second place, by 4 strokes. The winning prize is 225,000 dollars (approximately 270 million won).
Henderson, who started her ninth season on the LPGA Tour this year, participated in this tournament for the fifth time and won the first-ever “Wire-to-Wire” championship. It is the 13th win on the tour in six months since winning the Evian Championship in July last year. Henderson, who struggled with a back injury last year, successfully returned to the field with this win. 안전놀이터
Henderson had only used ping clubs his entire life until last year. However, ahead of this season, he boldly signed a supply contract with TaylorMade and had time to adjust to the club during the offseason. The direct reason Henderson switched clubs was the change in shaft length.
Henderson, who used a 48-inch driver until last year, reduced his distance by an average of 7 yards after using a 46-inch driver due to USGA regulations. The average driving distance in 2021 was 274 yards, but last year it was 267 yards. To solve this problem, I chose the TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, but I was able to get a satisfactory result and was rewarded with a victory in this opening game.
World No. 2 Nellie Korda (USA), who signed a supply contract with TaylorMade along with Henderson, traded 3 bogeys each with a birdie on the last day and ended up at even par, finishing 4th alone with a final total of 11 under par 277 strokes. Defending champion Daniel Kang (USA) lost two strokes and tied for 12th place with a final total of 4 under par 284 strokes.
In the celebrity category, Mardi Fish (USA), a former tennis player, won for the second year in a row with 152 points. ‘Empress’ Annika Sorenstam (Sweden) tied for third place with 133 points. The celebrity match was held in a modified Stableford format.