It was about 14 months ago that Michael Hendry found himself laying in a hospital bed in Auckland, New Zealand, typing out an email to the R&A to let them know he wouldn’t be teeing it up at Royal Liverpool after all. The veteran Kiwi, just a few weeks after qualifying, had been diagnosed with leukemia, and his third Open Championship would have to wait.
Tournament officials swiftly responded, accepting Hendry’s withdrawal but also providing him with some hope:
We’d love for you to attend at Royal Troon, if you’re healthy enough to do so.
“A huge motivator for me,” Hendry told TheOpen.com this week. “I think it had a huge impact on my recovery.”
Now in remission, the 44-year-old Hendry was well enough to take advantage of a special exemption into this 152nd Open – and after an emotional moment on the first tee and nervy first few holes (3 over through five), he got off to a solid yet also inspiring start Thursday by carding 3-over 74 in difficult conditions.
“It was incredible,” Hendry said afterward. “Words can’t really describe how grateful I am, not only to the R&A, but to all the doctors and nurses who have helped me over the last 12 months. It was extremely special. This is one thing that really got me through my recovery. To finally be here and teeing it up was extremely special.”
Hendry had punched his ticket to Liverpool with a runner-up finish last April at the World City Championship in Hong Kong and then tied for 11th the next week in Japan when he began feeling ill, sometimes sleeping as much as half the day. He tested negative for COVID-19, which was a blessing, Hendry says, because had he been positive, “I may have just brushed it off and not gone to the doctor.”
Instead, Hendry went to the doctor upon returning home, and then the hospital for further tests. He was diagnosed with leukemia shortly thereafter and spent the next six weeks in the hospital.
Chemotherapy took a toll on Hendry, who lost about 30 pounds. But he remained determined.
“At no point did I think I wouldn’t play golf again,” Hendry said. “I’d made my mind up that, even if I was sick, if I was healthy enough to play, I was going to try and play. I decided early on in the piece that I was going to try to dictate my life rather than this dictating my life.
“I had no doubt that I would get back. To the level, I wasn’t sure.”
Hendry, who watched last year’s Open from his couch while undergoing treatment, returned to competition at the Queensland PGA in early November. And then this past May, he got back in the winner’s circle, on the Japan Tour.
He’s got just one other top-10 finish this year, though this version of Hendry isn’t as concerned with results.
“Maybe before I had my own mortality thrown in my face,” he says, “I took the game a bit too seriously.”
The best part about Thursday’s round, which included birdies at Nos. 7 and 16? That his family – wife, Tara, and their two daughters, Maddison and Harper – was there watching from outside the ropes.
“I really hoped I was going to be healthy enough to play so I could bring them over,” Hendry said Thursday. “I’m no spring chicken anymore, and playing on the Japan Tour, we don’t get that many opportunities to get into major events. This could very well be my last British Open. So, having a young family, and my girls are now just at the age where they can kind of understand what dad does, and to have them here and experiencing The Open, which is the biggest, the oldest, the best golf tournament of the lot, I think it gives them a really
cool perspective as to what dad does.”
A place in the weekend at Troon would give the Hendrys a couple more rounds together.
More importantly, though, Hendry hopes a good performance can signal the start of a new chapter following a year-plus cancer battle.
“I feel like this week,” Hendry said, “hopefully will draw a line through that part of my life, and I can move on.”