“PRO” FILE – TOURING PROFESSIONAL BROOKE HENDERSON

The youth movement of the LPGA Tour continues, this time in the person of Brooke Henderson. A native of Smiths Falls, Ontario, Henderson recently notched her first LPGA win at the Cambia Portland Classic with a runaway 8-stroke victory over runners-up Candie Kung and Pornanong Phatlum. Henderson was ranked the #1 female amateur player in the world in 2014, and turned professional in December of that year. She won numerous events as an amateur, and when she ventured into the professional scene, she acquitted herself quite nicely, including a top-10 finish in the 2014 US Women’s Open. Henderson came out of Golf Canada’s “Team Canada” program, which helps to develop amateur golf talent in that country ( http://golfcanada.ca/team-canada). Henderson’s petition to become an LPGA member for 2015 was denied by commissioner Mike Whan, forcing her to attempt Monday qualifiers in order to compete. She successfully qualified on a number of occasions, and upon her breakthrough win in Oregon, was granted full LPGA membership. Her victory comes on the heels of other teenage winners on the LPGA Tour, including Lexi Thompson and Lydia Ko. Henderson is likely to be a star for a long time, and the LPGA’s youth movement continues to march on.