Canadian teen Brooke Henderson won the LPGA Tour’s Cambia Portland Classic last Sunday, but that didn’t guarantee her the two-season exemption that comes with a victory.
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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.
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.
He said Henderson will compete out of Category 7 on the 2015 LPGA Priority List for the remainder of this season and next which is reserved for players who have won an official LPGA event as a non-member in the current or previous calendar year.
After a 2-day news blackout and considerable speculation revolving around the interconnected questions – Will She or Won’t She?/ Will He or Won’t He?
The LPGA Tour has a minimum age requirement of 18 and only Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson had been granted exemptions previously after both won tournaments prior to turning 18.
Henderson had appealed to the LPGA for early admission in the past. “It made me realize what I really wanted in life and it made me work really, really hard”.
Henderson had the weight of a Tour victory behind this petition, becoming the second golfer in LPGA history to go from Monday qualifier to tournament victor in Portland.
Whan described Henderson as a special player who earned her card.
The past few days have been a whirlwind, but Henderson knows her journey is just beginning.
“My advice to her is embrace it, enjoy it”, said Kane.
I confess that I’m a bit surprised that Henderson elected to play an abbreviated rookie year, which will nearly certainly keep her out of viable competition for the Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year award. Her win in Portland moved her to No. 17 in the world rankings, boosted her earnings over US$660,000 and secured her 2016 card. Her next tournament is the $2.25-million Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, which begins Thursday in Coquitlam, B.C., where the spotlight will be firmly fixed upon her.
“It’s pretty cool to be famous”, she said.
“I haven’t really thought about it yet”, she said. “It’s fun to be back home and I know all the people I’ve talked to earlier (Monday) have been very excited and (are) cheering me on this week”.
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“If I can continue to improve and get better every day, hopefully good things will happen”.
