Man takes home unique souvenir from CP Women’s Open

After Brooke Henderson made history at the CP Women’s Open, one man found a unique way to commemorate the moment.

Henderson became the first Canadian to win the event since 1973 when she accomplished the feat at Wascana Country Club on Aug. 26.

After she sunk the final putt, and with the celebration underway, Carson Lavender — the assistant superintendent at the country club — had an idea about a unique way to remember the moment.

“I just thought, ‘Hey, I put this hole there this morning when I did my course set up … maybe I’ll just pull the cup out,’” he recalled.

“So I asked my boss and he kind of laughed and said, ‘Hey that costs 100 bucks,’ and I was like ‘I’ll pay it, I don’t care.’”

Lavender said he picked up the cup, cleaned it off with his sleeve and approached Henderson’s caddie, her sister, Brittany.

“She thought it was hilarious. She laughed and showed her mom, ‘Hey look at this, they’ve got the final cup,’ and was more than willing to take it over to Brooke and get it signed for me,” Lavender said.

The superintendent said even without getting the cup signed, the whole moment and event was incredible, especially after all the work the crew had to do in order to get the golf course prepared for the tournament.

“I just had the biggest smile on my face and getting the final cup autographed was just the cherry on top,” he said, adding it was pretty cool to see the LPGA event taking place in Regina.

“It was a tough season getting ready, but we put in so much work and once the grandstands started going up, it got really exciting.”

Lavender noted all the golfers who showed up to the tournament were friendly and took time to talk with people.

As for the signed cup, Lavender said it’s currently proudly on display at his home but could make its way into the clubhouse.

“I would like to keep it for myself, personally, but it is a little piece of history and if it ends up in the clubhouse, that’s fine with me,” he said.

“I’ll get my picture with it and I’ll have that memory forever and that’s what counts.”