Brooke Henderson is tied for second after a 4-under 68 in the second round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, sitting five shots behind leader Ina Yoon as she looks to make up ground over the weekend.
Brooke Henderson admitted she’d felt close to her best through 2026—nearly there, but not quite. By the time she walked off after another taxing stretch at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the Canadian’s timing looked sharper, her execution steadier, and her name had returned near the top.
Through two days, Henderson is tied for second after posting a second-round 4-under, 68. She has work to do on the weekend, sitting five shots back of Ina Yoon, but the turnaround is already visible in how she’s been moving from tee to green.
“It’s halfway done. (Yoon) had a great first half, so hopefully I can just have a great second half to try to make up the difference,” Henderson said. “I feel like overall the way I’ve been playing the course has been really solid, so just hopefully make a few more birdies and climb the board.”
Her round began with a familiar grind. Henderson started on the back nine Friday and opened with a 2-under stretch. She missed a few putts from less than 10 feet before turning, then ran into a bump when she bogeyed the par-3 4th. Still, she closed with momentum—three birdies in a row on Nos. 7-9.
Putting has been the weak spot in parts of her game during this stretch. but Henderson’s confidence has been built on the part of golf she’s long relied on: tee-to-green control. She said her ball-striking has put her in the right places on what she described as a “stressful golf course. ” giving her chances to turn pressure into scoring.
“I think we’ve been picking great spots off the fairway and into the greens and I’ve been able to execute and hit those spots. which has been really nice. especially around a stressful golf course. ” Henderson said. “You want to be able to be hitting your spots. So far, so good there. Just got to continue the next two days.”.
She’s been backing it up with numbers. Henderson is first in strokes gained—tee to green—gaining more than five strokes to the field. She has hit 82 per cent of her fairways and more than 77 per cent of her greens in regulation. Opportunities are coming; now she wants to convert more of them into the kind of leaderboard movement that can erase five shots quickly.
Henderson’s major history adds extra weight to this week. She won the Women’s PGA Championship in 2016, her maiden major title. At the tournament, her run of made cuts now reaches 12, and she has five top-10 finishes in her career. After two rounds, she’s leaning into that familiarity again.
“It’s been nice to have the ball striking in a really good spot and give myself a lot of birdie looks. Nice to get three to finish. That really makes the round feel whole lot better,” she said. “Definitely very happy how I played so far in this championship… Just got to continue the next two days.”
The emotional stakes are different, too. Henderson became an aunt on Thursday after her sister Brittany gave birth to a daughter, Sahalee. She said her family has been part of the push to rebuild consistency—an ongoing project as she tries to close the gap to the version of her game that once defined the LPGA Tour.
She acknowledged she knows she’s had a tough time with her ball-striking in a year where she’s recorded just one top-10 finish so far. Still, she described a hard-working effort behind the scenes over the last few months to reduce errors and find a steadier rhythm.
Last month, Henderson decided to make it more of a family operation again by bringing her cousin, Ryan Henderson, into her setup as her caddie.
“I think it’s just been a team with my sister. my new caddie. Ryan. (and) my dad. trying to come up with stuff together and just trying to minimize errors and get it back to a spot. I feel like we worked really hard all together. so it’s nice to see some improvement and nice to see some progress. ” Henderson said.
At the moment, that progress is visible in the way her iron play has positioned her for birdies, even while the putting has occasionally let her down. Over the final two days, she’ll need to keep tee-to-green quality high and start making more of the chances she’s already earning.
“It’s fun to see my name on the leaderboard again,” Henderson said. “And so hopefully have a good weekend. Really looking forward to it.”
Brooke Henderson Ina Yoon KPMG Women’s PGA Championship LPGA Tour Women’s PGA golf news strokes gained tee to green fairways greens in regulation