Rising teen-star Brooke Henderson is Canada’s hope in women’s golf

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It's 9 a.m. on a brisk spring Monday, and Brooke Henderson appears radiant and energetic. She's fresh off a Sunday that started with her closing round at an LPGA tournament in Galloway, N.J., and finished with a 10-hour car trip to Toronto, where she needed to be the following morning for a photo shoot. This is how a big week for a 17-year-old golf phenom begins.

With the shoot over, Henderson settles in for what's next on her jam-packed schedule – a sit-down media interview in a quiet nook at Toronto's historic Weston Golf and Country Club. Women golfers begin filtering into the club, some excitedly pointing as they glimpse the recognizably sporty blonde tucked away in the corner – some will be taking part in an all-female clinic she's putting on later that morning. And here she is in person, the great Canadian hope in women's golf. She is the reason some of these women are picking up golf clubs today for the first time. Pretty heady stuff.

There's huge excitement surrounding Henderson. She has power and confidence and the fearlessness of youth, which appeals to the LPGA's television audiences and sponsors. Some might say the hype has become too much. She's very young, after all, and she doesn't even have full-time LPGA Tour playing privileges: Players have to be 18 to join the tour, unless they win an LPGA event, and only two women in history have won before they turned 18.

Still, that's Henderson's goal: Earning her card consumes her, and the Manulife LPGA Classic this week at Whistle Bear Golf Club in Cambridge gives her another chance to achieve that goal.

This year could have been quite different. Henderson was heavily recruited as a junior, and in February of 2014 she committed to play at the University of Florida. But as a 16-year-old last June, she finished tied for 10th at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst, N.C., against the toughest field in women's golf. And in August she was runner-up at the gruelling U.S. Amateur. So in December, the world's No.1-ranked female amateur announced she would forgo the scholarship at Florida and, with the help of an agent from International Management Group, turn pro.

Sponsorships help, but this wasn't a cash grab: It's golf, and players who don't make the cut don't make any money. As well, without tour cards. Henderson can play only a limited number of LPGA events on sponsor exemptions or by qualifying on Mondays in mini-events against other non-exempt players. But she hopes she can earn her card by winning one of her remaining starts, the way that superstars Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson did as underage competitors. Henderson came close at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic in April – she led going into the final round, but struggled a little down the stretch and finished third.

The standout from Smiths Falls, Ont., known for her long drives and attacking style, could also land her card for next year if she finishes this season among the top 40 money-winners. It's no easy feat, either, since she's playing far fewer events than regular tour members. Yet so far, by playing just five LPGA events, Henderson has earned $184,745, good for 31st place. The far less desirable road to the card would be via a top-10 finish in LPGA Qualifying School this fall.

"When I turned pro, I did it because I thought I had a chance to do something special, and I knew my game was right there," Henderson says. "Golf is funny – four years can change a lot in your game, and what if I waited until the end of school and my game wasn't as good, or what if I got injured? I've had a good chance to be in contention nearly every week I've played this year. I haven't won yet, but I'm staying patient, because I think it's going to happen soon."

Even without an LPGA card, this talented teen with striking looks and humble charm has started to command the type of attention enjoyed by the Tour's elite. RBC signed her to its roster of golfers two months after she turned pro, and IMG was besieged with interview requests for her during this Canadian tour stop, which must be balanced with practice time needed to build more consistency in her game so she can keep climbing that money list.

On this particular Monday, she'll teach clinics with female RBC employees and clients alongside one of her own LPGA idols, Morgan Pressel, a 10-year veteran of the Tour who turned pro at 17 and won her first LPGA major at 18.

"When you're young and you've won a lot as a kid, you're cocky and confident, and then you get here and expect to keep doing well." Pressel said. "And Brooke is doing that. She doesn't seem to be showing any signs of struggle so far. She's feisty, determined, and mature on the course. And mentally she's very, very strong. Since Swinging Skirts, she's gotten a lot of publicity everywhere."

Dressed in fuchsia pink golf capris, a black windbreaker and shoes stamped with "I(love)golf," Henderson rides along the course in a long golf cart full of women, ranging from beginners to veterans of the game. When they arrive, she lines up her pupils on the low side of a sloping green and teaches them how to bump-and-run chip shots up to the flag. Choke the hands down two inches on that pitching wedge for better control, she suggests, shift weight to the front foot, hit it low, then let it roll to the hole.

Henderson squats down at the feet of every golfer, studying their posture and the angle of the club face, a keen tactician offering detailed corrections and analysis beyond her years. She eagerly sets up golf balls as targets near the flag to coach them on where they should land their chip shots.

"We place a huge priority on women in the workplace and getting them into our client base, and we want to personify that through our sponsorships in golf," explains Andy Shibata, vice-president of brand marketing for RBC. "We want to be relevant and interesting, and we see a promising female athlete like Brooke offering a real touch point."

During a break for lunch, dozens of women approach her, asking for autographs and photos.

"I was very shy growing up, but now I'm learning to be more outgoing and approachable," Henderson says. "I actually do really like the attention. Everything this year has been new to me, from photo shoots to seeing my picture everywhere to joining social media for the first time. It's all about growing followers – I know now that that's really important."

After a full day playing the sponsored athlete, she shifts to Henderson the pro golfer, which means a lengthy evening session on the range to start prepping for the Manulife Classic, which tees off Thursday. The last Canadian to win an LPGA event was Lorie Kane in 2001.

Henderson opens Tuesday morning playing a practice round with Kane and sister Brittany Henderson, a 23-year-old rookie on the Symmetra Tour who's playing her first LPGA event here. The sisters meet the media together after their round; Brittany reminisces about wee Brooke's earliest experiences with golf.

"When Brooke started, she thought the winner was the person who could get the ball in the hole first, so she would take off sprinting down the fairway," the older sister says with a laugh. "So sometimes in the late fall, when no one is on the course, we still have a game where we go running and see who can get the ball in the hole first."

To this day, the two sisters take turns caddying for one another in many tournaments. It was as a caddy that the young star had one of her most impressionable experiences last fall.

"I was there caddying and lived through it as my sister went through Q-School last year, where she didn't have her best week and didn't get the LPGA card, and it was tough," the younger Henderson says. "The atmosphere is like no tournament I had ever seen, because every person's career depends on that one week. I learned that I don't want to go through that."

Henderson and Kane have been named to Canada's team for the Pan Am Games in Toronto, providing a taste of what the 2016 Rio Olympics might be like. Her top-10 finish as the U.S. Women's Open gives her an invitation to the 2015 event in July. And in August she'll play the Canadian Pacific Women's Open in Vancouver, a tournament in which she was top Canadian and top amateur last year.

Henderson may not be an LPGA Tour member yet, but it's her promotional photo that appears on the media badges worn by every journalist in Cambridge this week.

"There is nothing in my life beyond golf right now, and I love it, I'm having so much fun," Henderson says. "It's not just something I do after school any more. It's my career now."