Don’t worry about Brooke Henderson, and more bits and bites from the world of golf

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/05/2022 (941 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Bits, bites and barbs from around the world of golf:

Bits

The old late-May Southern Ontario heat wave. Get it out of your system now, Mother Nature. Low 20s, little humidity and plenty of sunshine next week for the RBC Canadian Open please … A lot has been made of the long-awaited return of the men’s open, and later this summer, the CP Women’s Open, after both were cancelled the last two years because of border restrictions related to COVID. But this week in Victoria the PGA Tour Canada circuit gets up and running with full-field events, including international players, for the first time since 2019. As much as golf participation boomed the last two years, the pandemic paused the development of many young Canadian pros … Positively delightful seeing Colonial Country Club, among the shorter courses on the PGA Tour, yielding a winning score in single-digits under par at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Absurd length and gnarly rough are not the only ways to defend par … Kudos to Harold Varner III, who carded a 10-over 45 on the back nine at Colonial on Sunday after being tied for the lead at one point, and still managed a smile afterwards. Sometimes that’s all you can do in this game … A three-win season for Sam Burns. So far. Who does he replace on next year’s U.S. Ryder Cup team? …Congrats to the University of British Columbia’s women’s golf team on winning another NAIA title last week in Oklahoma City, the school’s sixth. The UBC Thunderbirds are undefeated this season and will try to end it that way this week at the Canadian University/College Championship in Quebec.

Bites

Turned on the Senior PGA Championship Sunday at 3 p.m. An hour later I’d watched the leaders play a grand total of three holes. Painful pace … It was cool to see Canadians Stephen Ames and Mike Weir atop the Senior PGA leaderboard through 54 holes and playing with the legendary Bernhard Langer in the last group out on Sunday. Weir struggled from the start and Ames finished second after getting passed by Steven Alker. Both were trying to become the first Canadian to win a senior major … By the way, Alker, from New Zealand, never had a top 10 in 86 career PGA Tour starts spread over 20 years, but he has now won four times on the PGA Tour Champions circuit in the last seven months. You can get better as you age … I find it curious that three of the four RBC Canadian Open regional qualifiers did not get fields of at least 100 players, the threshold for the winner getting a direct spot into the tournament at St. George’s Golf and Country Club. Qualifiers in B.C., Quebec and Alberta were not full. Only the Ontario qualifier at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley was … The latest news on Taylor Pendrith is that he’s hoping his fractured rib heals in time to play at St. George’s. It would be a shame if an injury prevented the Toronto-area golfer from competing in the RBC Canadian Open in his first season as a PGA Tour member. He’s teed it up in the tournament twice — as an amateur in Montreal in 2014 and as a first-year pro in 2015 at Oakville, Ont.’s Glen Abbey … Fascinating story on professional golf sponsorship from my colleague Rick Young, which if nothing else allowed his editor to write the words “logo bonanza” into the deck.

Barbs

Several emails have arrived in the last month wondering what’s wrong with Brooke Henderson, who this week will try to get back on track at the U.S. Women’s Open at the terrific Pine Needles Golf Club in North Carolina. After beginning her season with six straight top-15 finishes, including a runner-up out of the gate at the Tournament of Champions in January, Henderson has missed her last two cuts and prior to that streak she pulled out of the Lotte Championship in Hawaii after the first round with an illness. That withdrawal has led some to ask about her health, while golf’s new rule prohibiting players from using drivers longer than 46 inches, which Henderson famously did for most of her amateur and professional career, has others figuring she can’t make the adjustment. Both beliefs may have merit. Henderson and her camp play things pretty close to the vest. However, what can’t be discounted is the simple fact that golf is the hardest of games and that all players, regardless of resumé, will struggle at times. Nobody is immune. That Henderson raises such concern over two missed cuts speaks not only to the extremely high standard she has set for herself, but to the fervent following she has developed in her home country. Only Mike Weir, at least in my 20 years covering the game, has been on a similar level, although Henderson has more fans globally than Weir ever did. So if Henderson misses the cut this week and does not win again for a while, it’s not necessarily that “something is wrong” with her. It may just be golf being golf. Sports being sports. Life being life. Nobody is always on top of their craft. I’m on record as saying Henderson needs to hire a qualified short-game coach. More shots around the green in her arsenal and more consistent putting would take her game to another level. But she is exceptionally talented and she’s been super successful. And she is just 24. She will emerge from this valley — a pretty shallow one at that — and peak again.

Obscure thought of the week: The proverb “slow and steady wins the race” is wonderfully sage until your four-year-old says it doing just about anything. Then you wish the hare won.

Jason Logan is the editor of SCOREGolf Magazine and is based in Toronto. He is a contributor to the Star’s Sports section. Follow him on Twitter: @jasonSCOREGolf