On July 19 last year, New Zealand golfer Michael Hendry was watching the pre-tournament coverage of the Open at Royal Liverpool from the couch in Auckland with chemotherapy drugs coursing through his veins. A shock leukaemia diagnosis 10 weeks earlier had forced him to give up the spot in the 151st Open field he’d earned via the Asian Tour. A year later, and in remission, the 44-year-old Japan Tour veteran could only feel adrenaline in his body as he teed up with three fellow Kiwis in a practice round on Tuesday at Royal Troon. His journey back to the links major is a candidate for the best feel-good story of the 152nd Open, a tournament he says helped save his life.
“July 19 last year, I’d managed to get out of hospital but I was laying on the couch, 14 kilograms [30lbs] lighter, and battling to walk up the stairs at home,” Hendry said Tuesday at Troon.
Hendry on Tuesday at Troon with Kiwi pros Kazuma Kobori [far left], and Ryan Fox [right] as well as broadcaster George Harper Jnr, also a New Zealander [centre]. Photo: Ross Flannigan/Australian Golf Digest
In March last year, Hendry had finished second at an Asian Tour event in Hong Kong which earned him a spot in the Open at Hoylake through the championship’s global qualifying series.
But Hendry was constantly fighting the feeling a cold coming on for weeks, while he noticed a lump on his chin. When he travelled home to New Zealand after a tournament he finished T11 in, Hendry began to feel tired enough to sleep for over 12 hours a day. By April, tests in Auckland had shown he had leukaemia. By mid-May, it was confirmed and Hendry posted an emotional image of his player badge for the 151st Open on social media with devastating confirmation of his diagnosis and that he had to remove himself from the Open field.
“Before the Open last year, the R&A had told me if I could get myself healthy, they’d grant me a spot [medical exemption] for this year,” Hendry said. “It was sad and annoying watching the coverage, but also motivating to get back knowing I had a spot. It was huge and it really helped me get through the treatments.”
Those treatments were horrific. Hendry was undergoing chemotherapy while trying to regain weight and muscle with his strength and conditioning coach in Auckland. “I’d do a session with my trainer, throw up [feeling sick from the treatment], and either rest or keep training,” Hendry said.
There were some dark moments. When Hendry’s diagnosis came through, his wife Tara and their two daughters, Maddison, 8 at the time, and Harper, 5, were more than 600 miles away attending a family wedding in Christchurch. Hours after the ceremony, Hendry confirmed the news to his wife over the phone. The couple waited until their children returned from a week of school holidays before sharing the heartbreaking news.
“That was the toughest part; I’d stare at photos of my kids and wonder how unfair it would be if they had to grow up without a father,” Hendry said, his voice cracking.
Messages of support flooded in from pros, caddies and officials from around the golf world, including countrymen like Tiger Woods’ former caddie, Steve Williams, and former PGA Tour pro-turned commentator, Frank Nobilo. All encouraged him to fight. “Those messages meant the world to me, every single one,” Hendry said.
It took three months for Hendry to be able to even hit a chip shot, and eventually full swings. Another three months went by before he could regain enough clubhead speed to even think about competing on any tour.
“I was hitting chip shots with a PICC line [Peripherally inserted central catheter ] in my arm,” Hendry said with a laugh.
By August 2023, Hendry was finishing his treatments. He competed in a couple of events on the Australasian tour, including a T15 at the DP World Tour co-sanctioned Australian PGA Championship.
The most emotional Hendry felt on a golf course was teeing up in the New Zealand Open earlier this year with raucous applause from the Queenstown galleries. “It was the most nervous I’ve ever been on a first tee,” Hendry, who won the 2017 New Zealand Open, said.
In terms of cancer, Hendry is in what’s called deep molecular remission. There are traces of leukaemia in his blood, and he has to be tested regularly, but he’s cancer free.
By mid-May this year, something incredible happened. Almost a year, to the day, after his diagnosis was confirmed, Hendry won on the Japan Tour at the For The Players, By The Players Championship. It was his second career title in Japan and nine years after the first.
Hendry felt his game was good enough to accept his medical exemption into the 152nd Open. Recently, he earned another top-15 result on the Japan circuit, as well as a top 30, and only one missed cut in his five starts leading into Troon. He credited his play to working with former tour pro-turned coach, Luke Hoyland-Toomey.
Hendry hits a tee shot on Tuesday at Troon while Kiwi pros Ryan Fox [far left], Daniel Hiller and Kazuma Kobori [right] watch on. Photo: Ross Flannigan/Australian Golf Digest
But Hendry saved his biggest thank you for family and friends who helped his journey back to golf’s oldest major. “My wife, kids, family and friends really made it their mission to help me get back to the Open and I don’t know how to repay them, but I’ve spent weeks returning texts, phone calls and in person, to everyone who reached out,” he said.
The tall, athletically built Kiwi also credited the R&A for giving him something to focus on during his treatment. “I thought when I gave up my spot at Hoylake, that was it. It was an incredible gesture,” Hendry said.
Naturally, as a pro for 19 years, Hendry wants to be competitive this week at Royal Troon. He’ll tee off in round one in the third group off, at 6.57a.m. U.K. time, alongside Sweden duo Jesper Svensson and Vincent Norrman. “I don’t want to make up the numbers, but walking and playing four rounds, as well as consistency, is a little more difficult after my treatments. If I have a good week, great, and if I don’t, I’m still going to have a great time,” he said.
Hendry hits a shot during a Tuesday practice round at Troon. Photo: Ross Flannigan/Australian Golf Digest
On Tuesday, Hendry looked around the Ayrshire links – while playing a morning practice round with DP World Tour winners, Ryan Fox, who now plays on the PGA Tour, and Daniel Hillier, as well as rising New Zealand pro and former amateur star, Kazuma Kobori, who won the 2023 Western Amateur – and couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude.
“July 19 last year seems a long way away. I’m so glad to be back at the Open [after appearances in 2017 and 2018]. My wife and kids are all here,” he said, before ripping a drive down the par-5 fourth hole at Troon. “This sounds odd, but sometimes I look at the diagnosis like a blessing in disguise. I enjoy life more now.”
