Brooke Henderson will arrive at the CPKC Women’s Open carrying something more meaningful than the title of defending champion.
She arrives as a newly engaged woman, a new aunt and one of the hottest Canadian golfers in the world!
Perhaps most importantly, she arrives at Royal Mayfair with plenty of reasons to feel good about her game as well.
Henderson, the winningest golfer in Canadian history with 14 LPGA Tour victories, captured her second CPKC Women’s Open title last August in Mississauga. She closed with a four-under 67 to finish at 15-under par, edging Australia’s Minjee Lee by one.
The victory ended a more-than-two-year winless drought and made Henderson the first Canadian to win the national championship twice.
“This one I think might be the longest in between victories, so for that reason it makes it super special,” Henderson said afterward.
Now, 12 months later, Henderson returns to defend that title on a golf course with its own remarkable Canadian Open history. Royal Mayfair last hosted the event in 2013, when Lydia Ko — then just 15 years old and still an amateur — won by five shots. Ko has since become a three-time CPKC Women’s Open champion and one of the defining players of her generation.
Henderson’s summer has provided plenty of memorable moments away from the golf course, too!
On July 14, she became engaged to Ricky Castro, a pitcher in the Minnesota Twins organization. The couple, who began dating in March 2025 after meeting at a golf club in southwest Florida, announced the news on social media with a simple message: “The beginning of forever.”
The engagement came just two days after Henderson produced one of the best rounds of her career at the Amundi Evian Championship.
Seven shots behind entering the final round, she fired a seven-under 64 that included a hole-in-one and two other eagles, forcing a playoff with South Korea’s Haeran Ryu before ultimately finishing runner-up.
There has been more family joy, too!.
Henderson’s sister and longtime caddie, Brittany, welcomed a daughter, Sahalee, in June. Brittany has stepped away from caddying for most of the 2026 season, creating another significant change in Brooke’s professional life. She has since begun working with her cousin, Ryan, and they have made quite the pair so far as Henderson is one of just six golfers on the LPGA Tour to have made the cut in all five majors this season.
The result has been a Henderson who appears to be thriving both on and off the course.
She will have plenty of Canadian company in Edmonton. Lauren Kim, Vanessa Borovilos, Clairey Lin, Shauna Liu and veteran Alena Sharp headline a strong Canadian contingent, with several of the country’s brightest young players getting an opportunity to compete alongside Henderson.
And the rest of the field itself is strong.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda leads an international group that includes Ko, a three-time winner of this championship, along with other major champions and LPGA stars.
But for Canadian fans, the biggest attraction remains Henderson.
A year after winning Canada’s national championship, she returns to Edmonton with a trophy to defend, a family story that has entered a new chapter and the kind of form that suggests another memorable week could be waiting!