Gritty performance gives Henderson her second major

TSN Senior Reporter

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Brooke Henderson put a country on the edge of its seat and then sent it jumping into the air in celebration when she drained a nervy 12-foot birdie putt to win the Amundi Evian Masters in Evian-les Bains, France.

That made the Smiths Falls, Ont., product the first Canadian golfer to win multiple major championships, this one going along with her first at the 2016 KPMG LPGA Championship.

“It has been a long time (between major wins) and getting off to a fast start this week, it just felt great to be at the top of the leaderboard at a major,” said Henderson. “I just tried to take that excitement as far as I could. To be sitting here as a two-time major champion is an unreal feeling.”

Brooke Henderson sinks the birdie putt on the par 5 18th at the Evian Championship to secure her second career major, and watch as the Canadian celebrates her accomplishment.

The win, the 12th of her LPGA Tour career, didn’t come easily. On Sunday, Henderson wasn’t as sharp as she had been the first three rounds where she pushed herself out to a two-shot lead after 54 holes. She needed some grit, patience, determination and brilliant shot-making to cobble together the one-shot victory.

The day didn’t start well. After a bogey at the first, Henderson hit a poor approach to the sixth hole that left her on the green but in a different area code from the cup, almost 30 yards away. She ended up four-putting for a double bogey. It seemed as if her game, which had led her to a women’s major scoring record of -14 through the first two rounds had deserted her.

“I said to (sister and caddie) Britt should I chip it,” Henderson reflected of the first of her four putts. “In hindsight I should have chipped it and