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RICOH WOMEN’S BRITISH OPEN


July 26, 2016


Brooke Henderson


Woburn, England

COLIN CALLANDER: Good afternoon, we have Brooke Henderson with us. Recently won her first major championship. You must be feeling very confident coming in here this week.

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I'm really excited to be here. It's my second Ricoh Women's British Open, and I love the course this year. It's not the traditional links style. Kind of more tree-lined, which I won my first major on, and also my two other LPGA Tour wins are on tree-lined courses. Definitely some good vibes and some good feelings going into the week. I'm excited to see it up on Thursday.

COLIN CALLANDER: Lydia was in here a few minutes ago and described you as Super Woman, having played 10 tournaments out of the 11 tournaments. A, is that correct; and B, do you feel tired in any way having done that?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I think I did nine weeks straight on the LPGA Tour and then I also added another two-day event in there, as well. So kind of ten weeks in a row, but it was fun. It did get a little bit -- I was a little bit tired sometimes, but I just rested on my days off, Monday and Tuesday, a little bit more than normal. Just tried to pay attention from my body with that.

I think it also taught me a lot about how I'm feeling when I'm just that little bit fatigued or I'm just not feeling my best. I think moving forward, it really helped my game to improve.

Q. Just give us your thoughts on the course. What do you think the key is going to be this week in terms of scoring?
BROOKE HENDERSON: I mean, I think getting off the tees, making sure you're hitting fairways is all a good thing. Around the greens is where you're going to pick up shots or you're going to lose them. The greens are slopey and you need to hit it in the right spot.

So that's where approach shots are really important, to hit it in the bowls, or even just knowing the good spots to miss it. Playing the Pro-Am today, I hit the ball in some shots that I don't want to be the rest of the week, so just learning those out. I'll play another practise round tomorrow and hopefully get a good feel for the course.

Q. The greens are quite undulating; expecting a good feel putter this week perhaps a good chance for that.
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I think pace will be extremely important. And like I said, once you hit it in the correct bowl or the correct quadrant, it makes it a lot easier. Accurate approach shots, and then once you get on the green, having good pace and just leaving it around the holes to make easy pars or just easy tap-ins.

Q. If you can just look forward to the Olympics, did you have any concern over the Zika virus or at accommodation isn't quite up to scratch just yet, and also your thoughts on some of the guys pulling out.
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I respect everyone's opinion and everybody that pulled out. There's a lot of stuff going on in Rio that we can't really control. Zika, health issues, political issues, whatever it is.

But at the same time, it's the Olympics. They are going to try to do everything they can to make it safe for us, the athletes. I don't plan on venturing anywhere. Just get into Rio, stay at the Olympic Village, go to the golf course and come home, nothing crazy. It's kind of an opportunity of a lifetime to go down there and experience it for the first time.

My sister and I are excited to go. Hopefully we'll soak everything in, and hopefully it will be a healthy and safe trip down then just come back home after a great week.

Q. After such a busy year, was there a thought that this might be one competition too many to go to?
BROOKE HENDERSON: I mean, we kind of were on the fence maybe a little bit. We wanted to make sure that everything -- we were taking in all the information we could and making the best decision that we could, because it is kind of scary, everything that's going on. But with everything that we have right now, we're set to go and looking forward to it.

Q. Through that busy stretch, did you ever feel like you were hitting the wall and maybe you should have had a week off? How has it been playing that much in a row?
BROOKE HENDERSON: It was fun. It was good. And like I said, I learned a lot about like mentally how I was feeling and also physically, I felt like every week, it was just that one little thing that I learned, whether it was a chip shot around the green or a tee shot, seeing it go a certain length or a certain way off the tee. I was always learning something about my game, which I think kind of improved for the next week.

If I went home, I was just going to practise any ways, so why not just play four rounds of golf and try to win a championship.

Q. And then having the last week off, did you do anything special? Did you take a little rest?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, so we flew out of toll oh dough early Monday morning and we went to Calgary for two days. I had a junior clinic. Spent a lot of time with the Juniors and then also did a Pro-Am, as well, on Monday.

Then Wednesday, I had another commitment with BMW that afternoon in Ottawa, and then Wednesday night I finally got home. So we had Thursday, Friday and then part of Saturday where I just kind of hung out with my family and my friends, practised, and then got on the plane and came here.

Q. How long had it been since you had been back in Smith Falls?
BROOKE HENDERSON: I've been home two weeks, or a week and a half I guess, since Christmas Day. Christmas Day we went down to Florida to practise and we came home for about a week in May, and then those three or four days last week.

COLIN CALLANDER: Obviously you played Turnberry last year. When you arrived here, were you quite surprised to see the course?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I was. I was for sure, pleasantly surprised maybe in a way. Turnberry was an incredible golf course, so beautiful, but extremely tough. I definitely was victim to the wind and the rain on the weekend and on Friday afternoon.

With that being said, it was an experience like no other, and I definitely appreciate links golf very much. But seeing the course this year, it is just as beautiful, just a lot more trees, and I think hopefully I'll play well here.

Q. With what you said, that you learned a lot over this past stretch of being so busy, are you going to change your schedule for the second half of the season or any other changes?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Not really. The second half, it kind of slows up a little bit more. After this, I have two weeks off before the Olympics, and then two busy weeks in Canada, but then another week off, so it's a little bit more separate, which will be nice in a way.

I don't know what I'm going to do for the Asia Swing yet, but just try to get a feel for it and try to play as many events as I think I should.

Q. Just a follow-up to that. What are your plans for these weeks off leading up to the Olympics?
BROOKE HENDERSON: We have one charity tournament set up in August, August 5 at Ottawa Hunt which is going to be home to the Canadian Women's Open in 2017, and I'm also a new honorary member there. It will be a lot of fun to see some members and some of the sponsors and play a round of golf. It will go to my foundation, which we are just kind of getting started and hopefully support people down the road. So that's really exciting on August 5.

Other than that, just kind of be with family, friends and try to practise and get ready for the Olympics.

COLIN CALLANDER: Brooke, thank you very much indeed. Good luck this week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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