Canadian golfer Brooke Henderson is coming off a breakthrough rookie season. She’s hoping to build off it as she aims for bigger things in 2016 and beyond.

“I’m looking to get a few more wins on the LPGA Tour and hopefully a major championship within the next couple of years,” Henderson said. “I know that requires a lot of hard work and improvement on my behalf and a solid week (at each event). But I know it’s possible and I’m just looking forward to getting the chance to do it.”

Henderson will begin her season this week at the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic. The US$1.4-million tournament begins Thursday at the Ocean Club Golf Course on Paradise Island.

As a 17-year-old without full-time status, Henderson had an unpredictable first half of the season last year. She often had to rely on sponsor exemptions and qualification rounds to enter tournaments.

Things changed last August when she blew away the field at the Cambia Portland Classic to win her first LPGA Tour event by eight strokes. Henderson was immediately given full Tour membership and can now play a full schedule without the hassle of chaotic travel plans and the grind of qualifiers.

“I want to go out and make a good name for myself and see if I can make a long career out of it,” Henderson said in a recent interview.

After spending the holiday season in her hometown of Smiths Falls, Ont., Henderson has spent the last few weeks preparing for the season at the Indigo Lakes Golf Club in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Henderson rocketed over 200 spots in the world rankings last year before settling at the No. 18 position. She’s hoping improvements to her short game will help get her into the top 10.

“I want to make sure that around the green I’m very consistent,” she said. “Especially against the top (players) in the world. They’re so good. Over the last couple of years, I’ve noticed that if I could improve a little bit, it’s definitely around the green. So I’ve been working hard on that and just getting my mental game up to where it should be.”

Canadian women’s national team coach Tristan Mullally has worked with Henderson over the last four years. He thinks one of her strongest assets is that she’s not limited to one particular style – she can remain consistent regardless of the course.

“More variety of shots. She is powerful. She’s not one of the longest hitters in the game but she’s consistently in the right place in the fairways,” he said. “Her overall length compared to the others is probably very close to the top 25 or 30 in terms of length. But she’s higher (with her) accuracy.”

Henderson is also a virtual lock to represent Canada when golf makes its return to the Olympic program at the Summer Games in August.

“Rio is definitely one that really stands out,” Henderson said of the tournaments this season. “Being able to play in the Olympics and represent your country is an unbelievable experience that I’m really excited for. Along with that, there are five other majors on the LPGA Tour, which definitely stand out and are weeks when I want a peak performance.”

Some of Henderson’s best results have come at major events. She finished tied for fifth at both the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open last year.

“After the season I had last year, I know anything is possible,” she said. “Like I said there’s a lot of hard work that still needs to be done and little improvements. But it’s exciting to be in the position that I am … I’ve been given a gift and I want to make the most of it.”

Depending on how things work out, she could play in over 30 events this season.

“I think it’s a pretty remarkable story,” Mullally said. “And this year because she’s going to be able to plan her schedule, because there is a more consistent way to go about things, her preparation will just be better.”

Sei Young Kim of South Korea is the defending champion at this week’s Tour stop. Henderson finished in a tie for 33rd place last year.

TORONTO – Red-eye flights, pre-tournament qualifiers and last-minute travel plans were often the norm for golfer Brooke Henderson in her first season as a professional.

At the start of the year, she hoped to post some decent results and use her rookie campaign as a learning experience. Henderson did much more than that in 2015 – she became the first Canadian to win on the LPGA Tour in more than a decade and rocketed into the top 20 in the world rankings.

Not bad for someone who just celebrated her 18th birthday a few months ago.

Henderson capped her impressive season Monday by winning the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as The Canadian Press female athlete of the year. She picked up 21 votes (37 per cent) in the annual survey of editors and broadcasters from across the country.

“I’m hoping this is just the start of a pretty long career, and one where I can chase after some bigger dreams and goals that I’ve set for myself,” Henderson said. “Really I think that there are no limits and I think anything is possible. My 2015 year proves that it’s true _ that anything is possible.”

Soccer player Kadeisha Buchanan was well back in second place in the voting with 10 votes (17 per cent). Tennis player Eugenie Bouchard won the award the last two years.

Henderson is the first golfer to capture the honour since Lorie Kane in 2000. Kane was also the last Canadian to win on the Tour until Henderson blew away the field at the Cambia Portland Classic in August to end Canada’s 14-year victory drought.

The youngster from Smiths Falls, Ont., needed to play in a qualifier just to enter the tournament field that week. She showed she belonged by finishing with a whopping eight-shot victory.

“A couple days I was playing there and I was thinking back to when I would just kind of daydream when I was little,” she said. “I was looking at my putt on the green and I could see the hole and the ball and I could see the fans around the green. They were kind of blurred and it was just exactly how I pictured it when I was little. I was like, ‘Wow, you know what, this is my dream.”’

Henderson, who also posted fifth-place ties at two major events last season, was granted immediate LPGA Tour membership by commissioner Mike Whan after the win.

“The LPGA Tour win – that was really the pinnacle of the season,” she said. “It was when I was playing my best and I was able to secure my LPGA Tour card and get my first LPGA Tour victory. (The year) as a whole was a result of a lot of hard work and it was just something where everything came together and I thank God for that.

“It was just a miracle year really.”

Henderson will be able to play a full Tour schedule next year and make her plans well ahead of time. Gone are the days of needing sponsor invitations or travelling overnight to make it to the course in time for morning qualification rounds.

“I wanted to play against the best in the world,” she said. “Most of the times when I was doing that, I wasn’t a member and I didn’t really have anywhere else to play. I was trying to make my way onto the Tour and trying to make my mark. It was something that I knew I had to do and it was exciting to know that I could have a chance to do something amazing.”

Henderson finished the season ranked 18th in the world – a jump of over 200 positions from a year ago – with over US$100,000 in official LPGA earnings and more than $700,000 in combined earnings as a pro.

“Already a top-flight golfer at such a young age,” said Red Deer Advocate sports editor Greg Meachem. “Proved she can compete – and be successful – against the best of the best in a global sport.”

Canadian women’s team coach Tristan Mullally, who has worked with Henderson since she was 14, said she’s a remarkably steady ball striker with the accuracy to be consistent on different types of golf courses.

“When you combine those two, that makes for a pretty potent recipe,” Mullally said.

Henderson hopes to start strong early in the 2016 season with a goal of cracking the top 10 in the world rankings. She’s also a virtual lock to play for Canada when golf makes it return to the Olympic program at the Rio Games in August.

“I still have many years ahead of me and I’m working hard for 2016 and the years after that,” she said. “But this award for 2015 is definitely something I’m proud of and I’ll be very honoured to accept.”

TORONTO – Brooke Henderson had two dreams come true this year: she became a member of the LPGA Tour and won her first tournament at that level.

She’s setting her sights even higher in 2016.

Henderson hopes to continue her ascent on the top women’s professional golf circuit and also lead Canada to the podium when the sport makes its return to the Olympic program next summer in Rio.

She got a chance to learn more about the Olympic experience at this week’s Canadian Olympic Committee symposium at a downtown Toronto hotel. Watching promotional videos of fellow Canadians winning medals and hearing the national anthem has her counting down the days until the 2016 Games.

“Every time I watch those videos, I get goose bumps. My blood runs crazy,” Henderson said Thursday. “It’s an amazing opportunity that I have just to play in the Olympics and to play on the LPGA Tour.

“They’re both dreams that I’ve had since I was young and now this year is the first year that I can achieve both of those.”

Henderson, a former top-ranked amateur, showed this past season that she was the real deal. She finished third at the Swinging Skirts LPGA stop last April before picking up fifth-place ties at the Women’s PGA Championship and the U.S. Women’s Open.

Her statement performance came in August at the Cambia Portland Classic, when she blew away the field with a whopping eight-stroke victory.

Henderson was about three weeks shy of her 18th birthday at the time. She was granted immediate LPGA Tour membership by commissioner Mike Whan after the win.

The teenager from Smiths Falls, Ont., has since climbed to No. 18 on the Tour’s ranking list. Henderson is planning a full schedule in 2016 and plans to treat the Games like the sixth major of the season.

“The Olympics is a dream that I had as a little girl,” she said. “I didn’t know what sport or what I was going to do or how I was going to get there. But I wanted to be in the Olympics and I wanted to share the same passion as all these other athletes that I watched on TV in the Winter and Summer Games.

“So Rio is in August, it’s going to be a long summer and it’s going to be a long season. But it’s definitely something that I want to peak for and I want to represent Canada as best as I can.”

Sixty golfers will compete in the four-round women’s stroke play competition at the Aug. 5-21 Games. Golf was last played at the Olympics in 1904.

“I’ve won on the LPGA Tour, I’ve competed against the best in the world, I know (Olympic success) is possible,” Henderson said. “Hopefully if I can move my ranking up a little bit more, I’ll be seen as a contender in Rio.”

Official player nominations aren’t expected to be made until July, but Henderson is a virtual lock for the Canadian team. She’s looking forward to the pressure and the high expectations.

“It’s fun to have because you’re expected to do great things,” she said. “I’m really excited to go and represent my country and be the best that I can be.”

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Quebec’s Maude-Aimée LeBlanc finished with panache, earning her LPGA Tour card for 2016 at the end of the five qualifying rounds in Daytona Beach, Florida.

The Sherbrooke, Que., native recorded a 1-under 71 in the final round Sunday. Her cumulative record of 350 (-10) saw her finish tied for fourth, a single-stroke behind second. She will head into her second year with full status on the LPGA Tour, having previously qualified in 2011.

LeBlanc wasn’t the only Canadian to earn LPGA status for 2016. Anne-Catherine Tanguay of Quebec finished tied for 36th at even-par 360, while Samantha Richdale finished a shot back at 361 (T41) to earn conditional status.

Jessica Wallace earned Symetra Tour status for 2016 by virtue of tying for 64th at 6-over 366.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – China’s Simin Feng shot a 3-under 69 on Saturday on the Hills Course to take a five-stroke lead into the final round of the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.

The 20-year-old Feng shot had a 15-under 272 total at LPGA International. The top 20 finishers Sunday will earn full LPGA Tour cards, and Nos. 21-45 and ties will receive conditional status.

Cydney Clanton and South Korea’s Julie Yang were tied for second. Yang had a 71 on the Jones Course, and Clanton shot a 72 on the Hills Course.

Canada’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc moved four spots up the leaderboard into a tie for 4th thanks to a 3-under 69 Saturday.

The top 20 at the end of Sunday’s fifth and final round earn full-time status on the tour. Five Canadians will take part in Sunday’s play after four missed the 72-hole cut after Saturday’s round.

Cheyenne Woods, Tiger Woods’ niece, had a 73 on the Jones Course to drop from a tie for 16th into a tie for 24th at 3 under.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the third consecutive night, Simin Feng (Beijing, China) will sleep on the lead at the Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying Tournament. After a bogey at the 17th hole, Feng finished with an exclamation point, an eagle at the 18th, to take the outright lead heading into the weekend.

“It’s a great feeling to play good early,” Feng said. “It feels great to be in the lead but there’s still two more days to go and many more holes to come so I just have to keep going.”

Feng, who finished in a tie for sixth at Final Stage of Qualifying Tournament in 2014 to earn her LPGA Tour card, sits at 12-under for the tournament to lead Cydney Clanton (Concord, N.C.) by two-shots.

“I kind of tried to tweak my practice a little bit before this tournament,” Feng said. “I decided to focus on my wedge game and the scoring part of the game which has really helped me here. I’ve been able to save some shots and make some birdies on par-5s.”

The new approach was keyed by Feng’s father who noticed some holes in his daughter’s game during LPGA and LET tournament rounds in China.

“My dad helped me with planning the practice a little bit before I came down here,” Feng explained. “He saw some weaknesses during my tournaments with the LPGA and LET in China. He made some suggestions to work and it turned out to be pretty good. I just need to keep it going and keep it as simple as possible. It will make life a lot easier if I can.”

Feng was the 2014 SEC Freshman of the Year at Vanderbilt before turning professional.

The top 20 players following fifth round play on Sunday will earn LPGA membership in category 12 on the priority list. There are currently 17 players at 4-under, 212, or better and eight players in a tie for 18th at 3-under, 213.

Of the 13 players T8 or better, six have had LPGA Tour status in the past including the top three and Canada’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc (T8). Of the remaining seven, four are 20 years old or under.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – China’s Simin Feng and South Korea’s Julie Yang shared the second-round lead at 9-under par Thursday in the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.

Feng had a 2-under 70 on LPGA International’s Hills Course, and Yang shot a 69 on the Jones Course.

The top 20 finishers Sunday will earn full LPGA Tour cards, and Nos. 21-45 and ties will receive conditional status.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint, but I’m happy with how I’ve played so far,” Yang said. “My only bogey of the day came on the last hole so it was a good day.”

She tied for 21st in the event last season.

“I have the experience from last year and I know what to expect,” Yang said. “Last year was a tough year with conditional status and I feel like my game is ready to go back to the LPGA.”

Christine Song was third at 8 under after a 71 on the Hills Course. Cydney Clanton was another stroke back after a 70 on the Hills Course.

Canada’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc and Thailand’s Benyapa Niphatsophon were tied for fifth at 6 under. LeBlanc had a 67 on the Hills Course, the best round of the day.

“Everything seemed to be working today,” LeBlanc said. “I didn’t make any putts on the front nine, but I made five birdies on the back and no bogeys so it was just a solid round.”

Niphatsophon shot a 70 on the Jones Course.

Cheyenne Woods, Tiger Woods’ niece, had a 69 on the Hills Course to top the group at 4 under. Mexican amateur Gaby Lopez also was 4 under after a 72 on the Hills Course.

“I’ve been giving myself a lot of opportunities for birdies and I’ve converted a lot of them,” Woods said. “I had six today, which was nice. Overall, it comes down to ball striking and I’ve been keeping it in play and giving myself a lot of chances on the greens.”

She tied for 11th last year.

“It’s nice to know that I’ve played well here before,” Woods said. “I’ve played this course a lot whether it was on Symetra Tour or Q-school. It’s nice to know that I have that history here and also mentally to know that I’ve done it before it’s nice to be able to fall back on that and take that confidence into this year.”

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Final Stage of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament begins Wednesday, December 2 and concludes on Sunday, December 6 at LPGA International, Jones and Hills Courses.

There are 157 players in the field – including 10 Canadians – competing for LPGA Tour membership on the 2016 LPGA priority list.

The top 20 finishers (not including ties) come Sunday earn category 12 membership, while players who finish 21 through 45 plus ties will earn membership through category 17. In layman’s terms, the top 20 finishers will have “full” LPGA membership while those that finish 21-45 will have “conditional” status. For perspective, Alison Lee and Minjee Lee, who shared medalist honors in 2014, played in 23 and 29 LPGA events respectively in 2015. Julie Yang, who finished T21 at 2014 Final Stage, made 12 starts on the LPGA in 2015.

Players will rotate between the Jones and Hills courses over the first four days. There will be a 72-hole cut made on Saturday to the top 70 and ties. The final round will take place on the Hills Course. Play is expected to begin at 8 a.m. all five days.

Players that finish a minimum of 72 holes will earn Symetra Tour membership in category D.

Although secondary to earning LPGA membership, there is a $50,000 (U.S.) purse for the event with the medalist earning $5,000.

There are three ways that players could have earned entry into the field this week: by finishing in the top 80 at Stage II, by finishing 11-33 on the Symetra Tour’s Volvik Race for the Card money list or by having 2015 LPGA Tour membership (61 players had 2015 LPGA status).

Headlining the Canadians in the field is 4-time LPGA Tour winner Lorie Kane of Charlottetown (2000 Michelob Light Classic, 2000 New Albany Golf Classic, 2000 Mizuno Classic and 2001 LPGA Takefuji Classic). At 50 years of age, Kane is the oldest player in the field.

The other Canadians include:

• Augusta James (Bath, Ont.)
• Sara-Maude Juneau (Fossambault, Que.)
• Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Sue Kim (Langley, B.C.)
• Jennifer Kirby (Paris, Ont.)
• Maude-Aimée LeBlanc (Sherbrooke, Que.)
• Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Rebecca Lee-Bentham (Toronto)
• Samantha Richdale (Kelowna, B.C.)
• Anne-Catherine Tanguay (Québec, Que.)
• Jessica Wallace (Langley, B.C.)

NAPLES, Fla. – Lydia Ko had just been handed a $1 million bonus for the second consecutive year, and the first thing she thought about buying with those newfound additional riches was a new phone.

She’s had a bunch. She keeps dropping them.

“My mom doesn’t like it,” Ko said. “Phones are expensive.”

It’s moments like those that serve as the reminder that the New Zealander is only 18. The way she plays, no one believes she’s just a teenager. The LPGA’s rookie of the year from 2014 was the LPGA’s player of the year in 2015, and in golf – or any major pro sport – there’s never been anyone younger to end a season as the unquestioned best in his or her game.

Ko has 10 wins already, and there’s about 40 tournaments left to play before her teenage years are over.

“I don’t think she’s the age she is,” said Cristie Kerr, who at 38 is more than twice Ko’s age. “She’s such an old soul. It’s hard to believe she’s that young. … There’s that saying, ‘Youth is wasted on the young.’ They don’t know what they have until they are my age, right? But she has such a great, easy disposition about her. She puts everybody around her at ease. I think she’ll be that way for the rest of her life.”

Tiger Woods was 21 when he won his first PGA Tour player of the year award. Wayne Gretzky was 19 when he won his first NHL MVP. Jim Brown was 21 when he captured NFL MVP honors and neither Major League Baseball nor the NBA has ever had an MVP younger than 22.

Put in that company, she is a phenom among phenoms. Annika Sorenstam, for example, didn’t get her first LPGA Tour win until she was 24.

“Lydia is on a whole other level,” said LPGA veteran Brittany Lincicome. “It’s like an Annika level. To be 18 years old, I was trying to shoot somewhere close to even par when I was 18 years old. Now I’m 30 and she still kicks my butt every year. To be so young and so talented and to be so humble and so sweet, she’s really the whole package.”

Even though Ko is in the mix to win just about every time she tees it up, that’s another fascinating element to her story. The players that she’s beating every week, the players who’ve watched her collect nearly $5 million in earnings already and another $2 million by winning the “Race to CME Globe” bonuses in each of the last two years, they really like her.

“I heard her swear once,” Michelle Wie said.

So she’s not perfect.

“I don’t know how a person can be that nice,” Wie said. “I would probably explode inside.”

Ko tries not to let fame or fortune change anything. When her friends spot someone who they think recognizes her at the mall, Ko usually tries to get them talking about something else. And though she’s long been labeled a golf prodigy, many find her to be remarkably well grounded.

LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan talks with Ko often. It’s rarely about golf.

“I don’t know how to describe what Lydia Ko is doing,” Whan said. “I mean you know sometimes when you’re watching history and you sort of tell yourself, I’m watching history, but I don’t really grasp it when I’m standing in the range talking to her. And if you play a practice round with her or pro-am you grasp it even less. Because she doesn’t seem to be caught up in it at all.”

For Ko, that’s the key.

“I think I’ve been very fortunate to have a very supportive team around me,” Ko said. “I think they have definitely helped me keep grounded, always saying ‘Hey, even if I win one week, it’s a whole new week and let’s go in fresh, obviously confident.’ Not being like, ‘Hey, I’m the champion and world No. 1 and all that.’

“My team has really been helpful in that aspect. I don’t know if I could be in this position without them.”

NAPLES, Fla. – Cristie Kerr was the player of the week. Lydia Ko was the player of the year and pocketed another $1 million bonus. Inbee Park will be among the players of all-time.

One tournament, three women celebrating.

And just as the LPGA Tour intended, the season finale was dramatic until the end.

Kerr won the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship on Sunday, taking the lead for good with a 12-foot eagle putt on the par-5 17th and soon wrapping up her 18th career victory. Her $500,000 first prize, which pushed her career earnings past $17 million, almost seemed ancillary given the stakes that Ko and Park were playing for this week.

“Good golf is just good golf,” Kerr said. “It doesn’t really matter what age it is. I think I proved that.”

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., was 13th at 9-under par, while Hamilton’s Alena Sharp tied for 46th at even par.

Kerr is 38, and says she doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. Ko is still just 18, and became the fourth player to go from rookie of the year one year to player of the year the next. The others on that list: Nancy Lopez, Beth Daniel and Annika Sorenstam.

Greats all, and Ko is well on her way to that same status.

“I said if I could choose one of the awards, I would choose player of the year,” Ko said. “To know that I am the player of the year, it’s an awesome feeling.”

Ko won the $1 million bonus for winning the Race to the CME Globe, just as she did last year. And Park wrapped up a trip to the LPGA Hall of Fame by winning the scoring title, meaning the only step that now remains between her and induction is completing her 10th season on tour next year, a prerequisite for eligibility.

“It’s been a long season,” Ko said. “Up and down. Mostly ups.”

Kerr shot a 4-under 68 and finished at 17-under 271, one shot better than Gerina Piller and Ha Na Jang. Lexi Thompson was fourth at 14 under. She and Paula Creamer were among a group of U.S. Solheim Cup teammates who doused Kerr with champagne on the 18th green moments after she tapped home a 2-footer to end the season.

France’s Karine Icher was fifth at 13 under. Park was alone in sixth, good enough to beat Ko by three shots over the course of the entire season for the Vare Trophy and the 27th point she needed for her trip to the LPGA Hall.

“I said the Hall of Fame will be my last goal, but it really came early and I achieved pretty much everything I set so far in my career,” Park said. “There is plenty other goals to set.”

The pressure was obvious, all over the final back nine of the year.

Thompson had an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-5 14th, and never got it near the hole. Park missed a 2-footer for par on the 12th, then rallied with consecutive birdies. Stacy Lewis, one of three women who entered the week controlling their destiny in the $1 million race, gave her wedge a smack after needing two shots to escape a bunker at the 16th. Ko had a birdie try at 16 not long afterward, leaving it uncharacteristically short.

But in the end, Kerr, Park and Ko did enough to all come away with big prizes.

“Pretty cool,” Kerr said. “A lot of different honours.”

Kerr shot four rounds in the 60s, made a 35-foot birdie putt at No. 15 to tie for the lead, then the eagle at the 17th put her on top for good.

Park was second in the Globe chase, pocketing a $150,000 bonus. Thompson was third, taking home $100,000 in bonus money _ though she spent much of the afternoon in position to sweep both the $500,000 first prize and the $1 million bonus.

“It’s been a special year for the tour,” Ko said.