Brooke Henderson can get LPGA membership with Swinging Skirts win

Sunday is the most important day in the young career of 17-year-old Brooke Henderson.

The Canadian former world No. 1 amateur carries a one-shot lead into the final round of the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic. Were she to survive at Lake Merced Golf Club and pick up her first LPGA win, it would give her a foundation from which to launch a long career.

“If someone told me at the beginning of the week I would be leading going into the final round, I would’ve taken it,” Henderson said Saturday evening.

Henderson has no LPGA status, denied the opportunity to play in the tour’s Q-School last December. Commissioner Mike Whan declined to give Henderson a waiver that would have allowed her to play despite being younger than the tour’s age floor of 18. Whan has been consistent in refusing to grant that exception unless a player has already won an LPGA event.

If Henderson wins on Sunday, she would earn a two-year exemption but would still need to petition Whan for that exemption. He’d likely grant it.

There’s a lot on the line for Henderson, but she feels carrying the Canadian golf banner has prepared her for Sunday pressure.

“Back home in Canada I have received a lot of pressure from Canada for the last couple years,” she said. “If you have pressure it means you’re doing something right. I try and use it to my advantage and try and use it to help me get better. “

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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