Alena Sharp remembers quite well the first time she played golf with Brooke Henderson. It would be tough to forget considering the teen phenom made a hole-in-one. “I said, ‘Hey, when you become of age, you owe me a drink,'” Sharp recalled as the two Canadian golfers met with media ahead of this week’s Olympic women’s golf competition just outside of Paris.
That fateful ace began a friendship and mentorship that has spanned more than a decade and spawned a Canadian golfing duo that is entering its third Olympic Games together. “Ever since then,” Sharp said of their friendship. “She was trying to make it on the tour, like playing Monday qualifying and I gave her some tips on some of the courses because she didn’t get to play a practice round.
“From there, we just have developed a great friendship. I don’t know how many years it’s been, but I feel like it’s been more than I know.” Time can certainly fly in the life of a professional athlete, but Henderson and Sharp have been the constants in Canadian women’s golf for what seems like a sporting eternity.
“Alena has always been a great mentor to me so it’s really special to compete in three Olympic Games together and represent Team Canada because we are both very proud to be from Canada,” Henderson said. In Henderson’s case, the former teen prodigy was one of the game’s great early bloomers, winning five LPGA tournaments and a major championship by the age of 20. Now 26 years old, Henderson is looking to add an Olympic medal to her trophy case of 13 LPGA victories and two majors.
“It’s very exciting to have the opportunity to play such a beautiful golf course,” Henderson said of Le Golf National, 40 km southwest of Paris. “Here on Sunday watching the men’s final round, the energy and atmosphere was electric. Hopefully it will be similar for us.
” Henderson had an opportunity to watch her friends Corey Conners and Nick Taylor play the Olympic course last week and says she picked up some ideas about how to tackle the dramatic Le Golf National layout that features water hazards on ten of the 18 holes. “It’s cool to see how the men played the course,” Henderson said. “I mean, there’s definitely things that the women will have to play differently.
Just play to our strengths a little bit more, where the men, they can probably hit it over the rough and still hit pretty great shots and hole the greens, where we have to be a little more strategic and I think fairways will be probably be a little more important for us.” Henderson played a practice round on Tuesday and noticed a golf course that was firming up and windier conditions than the men enjoyed last week. She begins her quest for gold at 10:23 a.
m. local time on Wednesday. The Smiths Falls, Ont.
, native’s tie for seventh place at Rio 2016 is Canada’s best finish at the Olympics since golf returned to the Games after more than a century away. She finished tied for 29th in Tokyo three years ago and is looking for more this week when play begins Wednesday. “It’s fun to be at a Games where there’s so many people and there’s so much excitement surrounding it,” she said of the great atmosphere at last week’s men’s tournament.
“I feel like so far it has been the best one.” In contrast to Henderson, the 43-year-old Sharp has proved to be something of a late bloomer, extending her career and playing some of her best golf in recent years. All of Sharp’s best finishes in major championships have come after the age of 35.
“I feel like coming here, I could actually win now,” Sharp said. “Tokyo, I didn’t think that. The last two weeks playing before here were really solid.
I had two really good finishes and coming into my stride at the right time.” Last year, Sharp won bronze for Team Canada in the women’s event at the Pan American Games. “Being in that pressure situation, I can still remember it because it was only in November and I feel like that’s going to help me,” she said.
Sharp attended beach volleyball on Saturday and said she has had the Games on two screens every day, and is looking forward another getting her tournament underway on Wednesday at 12:28 p.m. local time.
“I think it’s nice to be with your friend,” Sharp said of sharing another Olympic experience with Henderson. “You know, bounce ideas off each other. We are so easygoing and good teammates that way.
” Henderson agrees and said the pair plans to attend the closing ceremonies together. “It’s been really special to build on a friendship and like I said to be competing in our third Olympic Games together and representing the country that we love is pretty cool,” she said..
