On Monday, when she was asked about the possibility of joining the LPGA tour as a full-time member, Brooke Henderson allowed the thought had crossed her mind but she hadn’t fully committed to a decision one way or another.
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LGPA commissioner Michael Whan said accepting Henderson’s petition for LPGA Tour membership was a formality following the teenager’s triumph. No Canadian has won an LPGA Tour event on home soil since Jocelyne Bourassa of Shawinigan, Que., claimed the ’73 La Canadienne – the precursor to the Canadian Women’s Open – in Montreal.
Henderson could have chosen to defer her membership until next season, after turning 18, but she would then only have been exempt for 2016 and, for the rest of this year, been in the same position of needing to Monday qualify or get sponsor exemptions into events.
LPGA policy states that any female 18 years of age or over shall be eligible to apply for membership in the Association’s Tournament Division; however, females between the ages of 15 and 18 may be granted special permission to apply for membership by petitioning directly to the Commissioner of the LPGA. Henderson will compete in this week’s Canadian Pacific Women’s Open as a member of the LPGA Tour and any money that she earns during the remainder of the 2015 LPGA Tour season will be considered official money.
“Since I was a little girl in Smiths, Falls, Ontario, my dream has been to play on the LPGA Tour“, Henderson said in a statement released by the LPGA. “It made me realize what I really wanted in life and it made me work really, really hard”.
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As for any tension that might have existed between Henderson’s camp and the LPGA, everyone was making nice on Tuesday following the big announcement. Brooke’s win in Portland made the whole matter academic and her father was conciliatory on Tuesday. It also means that Henderson is now officially a rookie for this season. “It made me more focused and more determined”. “We’re happy to become an LPGA member and move forward”.
