Henderson made things interesting, shooting into medal contention in final round
Chasing Canada’s first ever Olympic medal in women’s golf, Henderson was in contention for the podium on Saturday after shooting a front-nine 34.
After three consecutive birdies on holes 8, 9, and 10, Henderson was in a tie for fourth place and was within striking distance of New Zealand’s Lydia Ko.
However, a bogey on hole 13, and a missed seven-footer for birdie on the par-5 14th put Henderson’s hopes in jeopardy. On 15, a bogey pushed her out of medal contention for good.
She finished the day with a one-under 71, and placed in a tie for 13th on the final leaderboard.
Henderson shot over par in the first two rounds at Le Golf National, scoring a 74 on Wednesday, and 73 on Thursday.
She put herself in position to medal after she scored a four-under 67 on Friday.
“It was a good fight,” said Henderson. “And after yesterday’s round, (it) was great to be somewhat back in contention with an outside chance of medaling.”
“Going into today, I tried to have similar energy and just give myself a lot of good looks which I did, and I feel like a few putts could have gone my way.”
Henderson is Canada’s winningest professional golfer, having won 13 times on the LPGA Tour.
In her Olympic debut at Rio 2016, Henderson finished tied for seventh, which still stands as Canada’s best result since golf’s return to the Olympic program that year.
With her 13th place finish in Paris, she improves on her placement from Tokyo, where she finished in a tie for 29th.
“I mean, I feel like it was every round. I kind of fought back at some point,” she said. “So it was cool to kind of see that I did show that toughness and that grittiness when I needed throughout this week.”
Once again, Henderson has finished as the top Canadian in the Olympic field of women’s golf.
