At one point last year, Kylie Henry thought she might never be able to play competitive golf again, so the delight was clear for all to see as she secured a third-place finish at the Aramco Team Series in Bangkok.
The Scotswoman was playing some of the best golf of her career in 2021 before a freak injury saw her break her elbow as she slipped coming out of the shower, which saw her career put on hold for over four months.
The early diagnosis wasn’t good for the two time LET winner, with experts saying she may never be able to fully straighten her arm again, but the determined Scot had other ideas as she worked relentlessly to get back into top condition ahead of the 2022 season.
And you could sense the joy of returning to the higher reaches of the leaderboard for the 35-year-old in Thailand, as she secured her first top five finish of the season which was testament to her dedication to getting back on course.
“When it gets taken away from you like that, it is difficult,” Henry began.
“I am just so delighted to be back out here because I even missed going to tournaments. It’s just been so good to actually go back to tournaments, and to put in a good, strong performance and be able to really trust my game all this week,
“I’m just so delighted, because obviously I couldn’t hit a ball for like four months. Relatively speaking, it is still really early days come back and I’m still testing the elbow to see how it’s going and how much it can handle.”
It’s safe to say Henry’s elbow more than stood up to the test at Thai Country Club, with rounds of 69, 70 and a final day 69 enough to see her sit level with Rolex World number 13 Patty Tavatanakit on -8 after three days of action, and five shots behind champion Manon De Roey.
To stand out and hold her own against a number of the world’s best players, including Tavatanakit, Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn as well as 2022 Comunidad De Madrid Ladies Open winner Ana Peláez is something Henry was immensely proud of from her week in Thailand, and is eager to test herself against the best as much as she can.
“It’s incredible how strong the tour is now, and for me it’s so exciting. It’s a great time to be on tour. There are so many opportunities, and obviously the support from Aramco – those five tournaments that Aramco are putting on for us is amazing.
“Everything is going in a great direction, I have noticed the last three years a lot of things improving, but now we’re obviously really seeing it with prize money and everything.
“Playing alongside some of the top players in the world is great. It’s where I want to be. I suppose it’s what we all want.
“When these girls come and support our tournaments it’s brilliant for all of us full-time LET players to be measuring your game against these girls. It’s brilliant to see, because the strength and the quality on tour has rapidly increased.
“This is my 13th season on tour and it’s extremely different from when I first came on tour. The quality of golf has massively improved and it’s only going to keep going in that direction as well. It’s great.”
With three events to play last season, Henry was on course for at least a top ten finish in the Race to Costa Del Sol, with consecutive top three finishes at the Lacoste Ladies Open De France and Estrella Damm Ladies Open putting her among the frontrunners as 2021 reached it’s climax.
But after being ruled out of the run-in, those four months on the sidelines has made her even more determined to make up for lost time, and is relishing the thought of another season on tour.
When the one thing you have out your heart and soul into is taken away from you it can not only give you a bit of perspective, but also a hunger to make the most of your opportunities when they arise, and after having the drive to get herself back on course, she will be looking to keep her good form up as the season progresses.
“Obviously I was determined to do everything I could and I’ve really stuck to my program and rehab. I’m just so glad it’s paid off,” she continued.
“When it does get taken away from you, you don’t know if you can come back. I was in this very good form when it happened so I was devastated to miss the last few events last year because I only saw myself playing further up the ranking with those three events to go.
“So, yeah, even if I could have come back from the elbow you don’t know if you’re going to come back to form, so I’m just pretty delighted as you can tell.”
