U.S. SENIOR OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

June 28, 2025

Mark Hensby

The Broadmoor (East Course)

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Mark Hensby, 2-under 68. Just a great battle between the three of you. Talk a little bit about the group and sort of the momentum and the fight out there.

MARK HENSBY: Any time you play with two great players like that, it's definitely fun. Didn't go off to the best start, but as Padraig said, we all kind of made a few birdies there in a row and we started to get things going.

It's fun playing with those two guys. They're just such great players. Obviously Padraig winning three major championships in his career, and Stewart Cink is -- it's awesome, no doubt.

Q. It felt like you chipped in on 13, the birdie on 14 felt like a pivotal momentum swing for you. Talk about that stretch.

MARK HENSBY: That chip, obviously going in was momentum, and then I actually felt like, okay, now it's time to go. Unfortunately, around here is tricky. You can have a five-footer that can break two feet. People go, ahh, when you miss a four-footer even though you're aiming at a cup outside left edge and hoping. But it was fun.

Q. How much scoreboard watching do you do to know where you are in that round to maybe put yourself where you want to be at the end?

MARK HENSBY: I really only looked at our board because I figured the two guys, and then I saw Thomas, I think on 16, he was making a bit of a move. I knew the guys that I was with were probably the guys I really only had to watch.

Yeah, as I said, once we all got together and started to get it, then it started to get fun, no doubt.

Q. I think it's -- is it your birthday tomorrow?

MARK HENSBY: Tomorrow.

Q. Is that on your mind at all?

MARK HENSBY: Not at all. It's funny, my birthday is always on this week. It's either Thursday, Wednesday, or tomorrow it's Sunday, so yeah.

Q. Because it's already Sunday in Australia --

MARK HENSBY: That's true.

Q. Do you celebrate now or tomorrow, or if you win, do you do both?

MARK HENSBY: No, I'll celebrate tomorrow. My family will call me tonight, I'm sure, but yeah, we'll celebrate tomorrow.

Q. Can you describe what was going through your mind when you lost a little bit of ground on the first couple of holes? Is there just keep it steady or a different feeling?

MARK HENSBY: Listen, when you get two great players like that who start off as well as they did, especially Padraig, you kind of expect it to a certain extent, but I just felt like I've just got to play my game and try and just do the best I can do all day and see what happens. Fortunately, some things started to go my way, got a couple of nice breaks, and yeah.

Q. After the weather delay, the winds seemed to be really unpredictable. How did that impact things on the back?

MARK HENSBY: I'll tell you, the weather delay was tough because we had a par-3, and I actually made a bogey, I three-putted with my second shot. I think our first shots are in.

Then we got on 10, and it was blowing, it felt like, 30 miles an hour downwind. Then I was standing over the ball, and it stopped completely. So we had to recharge. It got tricky. It definitely got tricky there a couple of times. The wind picked up and then it just died down. It was really weird.