Brooke Henderson leads LPGA stars back to Sahalee for Women’s PGA Championship

SAMMAMISH, Wash. – Of course, Brooke Henderson is excited about returning to Sahalee Country Club. Sahalee was the site of Henderson’s first major triumph on the LPGA Tour when she managed to out-duel fellow 18-year-old phenom Lydia Ko to win the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in a playoff in 2016. “Winning there in 2016 really changed my entire life,” Henderson said. “It will be very special to walk those fairways and relive some of those memories and hopefully create new ones that are just as meaningful.

It would be a dream come true to win again.” The third major of the season for the LPGA returns to Sahalee for the 2024 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June. Henderson hasn’t been back to Sahalee since her victory in 2016, but she’s eager to return to the club that made her an honorary member after her triumph. “I’m really looking forward to this opportunity. It’s such a beautiful golf course and very tough as well so hopefully I’ll bring my A game,” Henderson said.

Sahalee director of golf Bryan Nicholson said that the club will have a ceremony for Henderson to commemorate her 155-yard 7-iron shot to three feet during her playoff with Ko on the 18th hole that, “She doesn’t know this yet, but we’re actually going to do a special ceremony for her on 18 to commemorate where she hit that shot in the playoff against Lydia,” Nicholson said in May. “At the same time, our championship committee will officially give her the honorary membership here to the club.

“Brooke is having a tremendous year. She’s playing fantastic coming into what will be the U.S. Women’s Open and hopefully she can keep some of this momentum building. It would be awesome to see her defend, so to speak, her 2016 title here.”

Despite being on the losing side of the playoff, Ko is also excited to return. Ko had four straight top three finishes in majors – including two victories – before getting beat out by Henderson on the first playoff hole. Henderson stuffed her approach shot on the par 5 18th to three feet and made birdie while Ko’s try from outside 10 feet wouldn’t fall.

“I think it’s one of the best golf courses I’ve played,” Ko said in August at the Portland Classic. “You can be in the fairway and blocked out by trees and there’s not many courses like that so yeah I’m excited for it. Especially when we play up in that kind of area like even Vancouver and here (Portland), a lot of people turn up to watch us play so that’s also going to be a perk of it.”

The 2016 edition and the finish between Henderson and Ko helped elevate the event to one of the best in the women’s game. The tournament regularly features the strongest field in women’s golf with the event becoming one of the sport’s most coveted titles.

“KPMG has really raised the bar for us,” Henderson said. “Bigger money, network television, amazing venues like Sahalee, so every year it just keeps on getting bigger and better.”

Meanwhile, World No. 1 Nelly Korda has had a blistering start to the season. Korda tied an LPGA record with wins in five straight starts, including a win in the Chevron Championship in April for her second major title. She’s won six times in seven starts overall. Like Scottie Scheffler in the men’s game, Korda has found a level in her play that has pushed her ahead of all her competition so far this year.

Korda’s first major championship also came in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, earning her victory at Atlanta Athletic Club in 2021.

Henderson has also added a second major to her trophy cabinet as well with a victory in The Evian Championship in 2022. She’s now a 13-time winner on the LPGA Tour overall while still holding the title of youngest champion in KPMG Women’s PGA Championship history.

“Obviously, such amazing memories back in 2016, so hopefully we can go there and do something very similar,” Henderson said.

While it’s understandable that Henderson and Ko would have fondness for Sahalee, it’s less obvious that Megan Khang would share similar regard for the venue.

Khang would shoot 80-75 in her two rounds for a 13-over par total that saw her miss the cut by six shots. She managed just two birdies over her two rounds with a trio of double bogeys as nothing came easy.

“I’m pretty sure I hit like every tree on that golf course,” Khang said.

Despite her quick exit, Khang said Sahalee is one of her favourite courses she’s played while on the LPGA Tour.

“I’m definitely excited to go back,” Khang said. “Sahalee is a great track. Even though I didn’t have my best game there my rookie year, looking at it it’s like hey, I’m ready to go back and redeem myself and kind of go back out there and have some fun.”

The Brockton, Mass. native has found recent success playing in the Pacific Northwest. Khang earned her first career victory at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver, B.C. last August for her first LPGA victory. She’d play in the final group the following week as well at Columbia-Edgewater Country Club in Portland in a fifth place finish.

Both courses have similar traits to those found at Sahalee. It also reminds Khang of golf from home in Massachusetts.

“You know, the northwest is very similar to northeast golf for me,” Khang said. “Pretty much tree lined, a little different grass, but overall it’s kind of what I’m used to: fairways, rough, trees. Just try to keep it in the short stuff as much as you can.”

Henderson (14th), Ko (15th) and Khang (16th) all sit in the top 20 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.

Nicholson said several players made a pit stop at Sahalee between the Vancouver and Portland events last summer to see the course and feedback has been extremely positive.

When players do return to the course this week, they will see a course that is slightly different from the one they saw in 2016. One of the biggest changes is the removal of a large western red cedar tree that used to protect the front right side of the 11th green. The tree was taken out in the fall of 2019 due to concerns over playability from the membership.

“We had gotten a lot of feedback on the tree, the playability of the hole, the green becoming inaccessible,” Sahalee director of agronomy Charlie Schauwecker said. “So with our architect, Rees Jones, we reviewed it. We worked with the members on a plan and eventually executed that removal and I think the hole is a lot more playable now.”

Another tree was removed from the left side of the 12th fairway about 100 yards out from the green that also impeded shots to the hole.

“If you were even in the middle of the fairway, you had to hit a draw around it to access the green. So we removed that tree. That made a big difference on that hole,” Schauwecker said.

A couple more trees were removed from the right side of the 8th hole as well as they had continued to grow and encroached on the hole over the years.

Additionally, a full bunker renovation beginning in the fall of 2022 took about seven months across all 27 holes of the course. Many bunkers were moved and re-positioned to adapt to the increased distances of modern golf. Over 25 years, the sand from the traps had built up as much as two feet in certain places and had even affected the contours of green complexes.

The course also played as a par 71 in 2016 with the 18th hole playing as a 420-yard par 4. It will now be played as a par 5 for the championship with the tees pushed back to 515 yards for a par 72 layout.