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Over the past 10 years, we’ve faced floods and tornadoes, terror and fear, and nightmares on our roads. Most importantly, this decade has given us heroes — people who inspire with their brilliance and courage. These stories helped shape the Ottawa we live in today. In our annual newsmakers series, we examine the decade’s biggest stories. Today, Brooke Henderson.

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It was January 2013, only a few weeks after Brooke Henderson was named to the Canadian women’s amateur golf team. She was just 15.

How good, Henry Brunton was asked, could she become?

“Well …” the award-winning teaching pro and long-time coach of the national men’s team said. “Handled the right way, she could be the best player Canada has ever seen.”

It was easy then to regard that as hyperbole, but it turned out Brunton knew something.

Henderson became No. 1 in the world amateur rankings on the day she turned 17. She became a professional golfer three months later and, in five years since, has racked up nine LPGA Tour victories, the most ever by a Canadian, plus $6.5 million US in earnings.