World No. 1 Jin Young Ko spoils Brooke Henderson’s hopes of repeating as CP Women’s Open golf champion

The CP Women’s Open had a dream scenario for its final round on Sunday – ideal weather on a posh course in Canada’s biggest sports market, and a homegrown superstar in the thick of contention to win.

But Brooke Henderson’s bid for a second consecutive title at her national championship came up short. Or put another way, she and the rest of the contenders got left behind by Jin Young Ko, the No. 1 player in the world who set a tournament scoring record en route to lifting her fourth LPGA Tour trophy this year.

Ko, dressed head to toe in white, hardly looked the villain at Magna Golf Club in Aurora, Ont., but she killed what the local fans hoped would be a big national celebration – a repeat of the party Henderson sparked last year in winning the CP Women’s Open when it was held in Regina.

The 24-year-old South Korean didn’t make a single bogey over 72 holes at Magna and punctuated her final round with eight birdies, shooting eight-under-par 64 to reach the best score in the event’s 47-year history, 26-under 262.

Ko finished five shots ahead of Denmark’s Nicole Broch Larsen, who nevertheless had her best career finish on the LPGA Tour, and seven strokes clear of Henderson and American Lizette Salas.

The victory all but assured Ko of being the Tour’s player of the year, following up her inaugural season of 2018, in which she won once on the LPGA Tour and was its rookie of the year.

Not bad for a player who nearly skipped the Canadian event to extend her vacation in her home country and played just nine holes of practice at Magna before the tournament began. (Mind you, she shot 30 on those nine holes.)

Asked why she changed her mind at the last minute, she said, in English, "Well, I like Canada and then I like Iced Capp,” endearing her to a nation of Tim Hortons diehards. Asked how she’d celebrate her victory, she said “drinking.” Ditto, to a nation of hosers.

Her decision to play even caught her caddy, Dave Brooker, off-guard. He was in the midst of a vacation and had to scramble to get to Magna, arriving Wednesday night and scouting the course only on Thursday morning before Ko’s afternoon tee time. But he wasn’t surprised by her success.

He’s been on her bag all year and has seen a confident, skilled athlete get even better, partly through some equipment changes and partly through her work with London, Ont.-based short-game guru Gareth Raflewski, but also through her innate ability to bear down as the pressure mounts.

“I’ve been lucky enough to work for Lorena Ochoa and some other great players, and they all seem to do that,” Brooker said behind the 18th green as Ko accepted her trophy alongside a pair of Mounties. “They just have this extra gear when there’s more cameras, more importance, pressure down the stretch. They all seem to step up and elevate their game.”

Ko did exactly that. The bogey-free tournament was a first for both Ko and Brooker, who’s been on the LPGA Tour for more than 20 years and was by LPGA Hall of Famer Ochoa’s side for 23 victories. It was also the first on the LPGA Tour since Inbee Park went blemish-free in winning the 2015 HSBC Women’s World Championship.

Ko’s streak of perfection almost got ruined on the ninth hole when her approach to the par-five missed the green and got an unlucky kick into some brush. Ko had to take a penalty stroke for an unplayable lie, but she still managed to get up and down for par.

It was that kind of day for the Seoul native, who won 10 tournaments on the KLPGA Tour in her home country before taking her game global. She could do no wrong and her playing partners, Henderson and Broch Larsen, who both shot 69, could not close ground. Salas made a bold charge, but even her 64 left her adrift.

The prospect of 21-year-old Henderson winning again on home soil brought out sizable crowds – this year’s CP Women’s Open had the second-highest attendance in its history, about 45,000 for the week – and some fans no doubt came just to get a glimpse behind the gates of one of Canada’s most exclusive golf clubs. Either way, they lined the immaculate fairways four- and five-people deep to watch her go head-to-head with the third-round co-leaders Ko and Broch Larsen in the final group on Sunday.

Fans seated in Muskoka chairs behind the second green said they arrived at 7:30 a.m. to get front-row seats for the showdown. Alessandro Binda, a nine-year-old Toronto boy, was another attentive onlooker. Henderson credited him with jump-starting her third round Saturday and keeping her in the game.

Alessandro had awaited Henderson near the eighth tee on Saturday and caught her attention. “I got a high-five from her and then she stuck it [her tee shot] to four feet,” the boy said Sunday, still wearing the signed glove Henderson gave him the day before and a Ping hat, honouring Henderson’s equipment sponsor. “... I guess I was good luck.”

Was he ever. Henderson turned around her sluggish start with the birdie and then blistered the back nine, needing just 29 shots. Alessandro, with his father, Philippe, returned to same spot Sunday hoping to inspire more magic, again slapping Henderson’s palm as she strode by.

But it wasn’t to be. Henderson left too many putts short Sunday and her four birdies, against one bogey, weren’t nearly enough to keep pace with Ko. “I couldn’t really ask for anything more,” Henderson said of her share of third place. “It would’ve been very difficult to catch Jin Young today. She shot like a million under.”

Broch Larsen felt the same sense of resignation by the end. On the 17th hole, after Ko poured in her seventh birdie of the day, the Dane gave her South Korean playing partner a low-five in acknowledgement. “There is a reason she’s world No. 1, for sure,” she said.

It was on the 17th green where Ko also felt like she had locked away the victory, and that left her free to enjoy a triumphant walk up the 18th fairway, rimmed by grandstands, hospitality suites and a sea of fans, many wearing red. Ko threw her arm around the shoulder of Henderson, whom she counts as a close friend on tour, and together they walked toward the green.

The fans let out a thunderous applause. “I thought when I walked to the 18th green that the crowd was for Brooke, not me,” Ko said at her victory news conference, sitting beside the CP Women’s Open trophy. “Here is in Canada and she has a lot of fans. So yeah, [I said to her], ‘This crowd is for you.’ But she said, ‘No it’s for you.’ So we did like handshake. So yeah, I like Brooke.”

For good measure, Ko birdied the last hole.