Henderson romps to victory at McKayson NZ Women's Open

Canadian Brooke Henderson has made light work of the challenging conditions to run away from the field to win the Mckayson New Zealand Womens Open by five shots.

The world number 12 claims her fifth LPGA title and second of the year with clinical rounds of 65, 70, 67 and a remarkable final round of 69 in extremely challenging conditions.

Henderson made light of the still gusty conditions to see off challenges from Chinas Jing Yan (-12) and Koreas Hee Young Park (-11).

The classy new champion closed out her victory with a sensation birdie on the 72nd hole to send the passionate golf gallery into roars of support.

"This is so amazing to get my first win outside of North America, my fifth win on the LPGA Tour, it is incredible. It is a dream come true and to do it in New Zealand - I am really excited to be here," Henderson said.

"Brittany (her sister and caddy) and I did an extremely awesome job of adapting to those conditions. All day yesterday I was trying to overcome that one shot deficit in case the tournament got cut short. That drive and that push to keep making birdies is what got me in this position.

Home town favourite Lydia Ko briefly pulled into contention when she eagled the par four 15th by holing her approach, however the former world number one doubled bogied the 17th and then triple bogied the final hole to drop down the leaderboard.

"I played really solid pretty much apart from the last two holes," a philosophical Ko said. "It was a tough finish but overall my game was solid and there were a lot of positives coming from two good finishes to give me the confidence coming into this week.

"I had hoped a few more putts would have dropped but I think I am saying that almost every week. Theres always something left to improve.

"But overall the crowds here this week were really the cool aspect for me I dont get to come home very often - but it gave me goosebumps and made me proud to play this event and have it as a LPGA event."

The leading amateur was New Zealand-based Korean Ayean Cho who was tied for 17th on six-under par.

- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Golf NZ