MISSISSAUGA — When Brooke Henderson won the Canadian national women's golf championship in 2018 it created a small boom in recreational players taking up the sport.
Canada's golf community is hoping for a similar result after Henderson won her second CPKC Women's Open championship Sunday, beating Australia's Minjee Lee by a stroke.
Golf Canada chief executive officer Laurence Applebaum said that before Henderson's win seven years ago the sport was experiencing modest growth year over year, but that victory at Wascana Country Club in Regina followed by the COVID-19 pandemic led to huge growth in the recreational game.
"It connected a huge swath of the sports fan and maybe the non-golf fan to the game and that has continued on," said Applebaum on Sunday, shortly after Henderson's win at Mississaugua Golf and Country Club. "She's had an epic impact, and we have been obsessed as Canadians with our national winners, whether it's hockey or tennis or basketball.
"We're so thrilled to have Brooke in 2018, Nick Taylor win the men's championship in 2023 and now Brooke again in 2025. It's a pretty epic run."
Henderson, from Smiths Falls, Ont., has the most career wins of any Canadian professional golfer, with her win on Sunday bringing her record up to 14 on the LPGA Tour. It also ended Henderson's winless drought that stretched back to January 2023.
"The impact that it's had on golf in Canada has been so immense, as much as one individual has done in the history of our country," said Applebaum. "It's a Mount Rushmore: it's Mike Weir, Sandra Post. It's Marlene Stewart Streit, and it's Brooke Henderson and then there's a whole host of other people who've all contributed.
"What Brooke has done for girls, for women, for young kids, for Canada, is something else."
Taylor knows about inspiring Canadian golfers. The golfer from Abbotsford, B.C., has five PGA Tour titles to his credit, including winning the RBC Canadian Open and ending a 69-year drought for Canadian men at their national championship.
"Congratulations to Brooke and her team on another impressive victory," said Taylor in a statement after Henderson's victory. "It’s incredible winning your national championship in front of Canadian golf fans.
"She played well all week and battled hard until the end to get it done. Amazing stuff."
Although her performance on the course is the hook to Henderson's popularity, Applebaum believes that it's her high character off the course that endears her to Canadians across the country.
"I think part of the magic of sports is that we follow people that we connect with and Brooke has been such an incredible connector with so many of the fans from every walk of life, urban, rural, east, west," said Applebaum, noting how good Henderson is with young fans. "If you have a Canadian flag, or you're Canadian and you're following her, you connect with her somehow.
"People just generally see the good in her and I can tell you from getting the opportunity to spend a fair bit of time with her, it's so good, it's so great. She's just such an amazing ambassador for our country."
Claire Welsh, the tournament director for the Women's Open, said she couldn't have written a better ending to the week and that it sets expectations high for next year's tournament at Edmonton's Royal Mayfair Golf Club.
"It felt like a storybook sort of finish to the week, particularly with Brooke always having been right at the heart of this event as a CPKC ambassador and as Canada's winningest golfer," said Welsh on Monday. "We know that she's inspired so many of the young girls and boys that are coming up behind her.
"The whole thing just felt very full circle and it's one of those amazing sporting stories that we're we're seeing in Canada this summer with (National Bank Open tennis champion) Victoria Mboko, (world champion swimmer) Summer McIntosh and now Brooke Henderson."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 25, 2025.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
