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June 19, 2014
PINEHURST, NORTH CAROLINA
Q. (No Microphone.)
BROOKE MACKENZIE HENDERSON: I saw a couple leaderboards and I thought I would be close up there, but I really had it rolling there for a little while, a couple birdies, one on the par-5 and one on the par-3 right after.
Q. Did that add any kind of pressure for you, knowing how well you were doing to keep it up?
BROOKE MACKENZIE HENDERSON: No, not really. I was having a lot of fun out there. Just made a couple of little silly mistakes coming in that I'll get tomorrow and that, but, yeah, just work on my chipping and putting a little bit and hopefully get another good round in tomorrow.
Q. You're 16 years old, you're plus one in the U.S. Open, what are the emotions right now? I know you've had some success before, but?
BROOKE MACKENZIE HENDERSON: Yeah, it's pretty cool. Being up there closer to the leaderboard was definitely fun and hopefully I'll put a good round together tomorrow and make the cut and then hopefully climb up the leaderboard on the weekend.
Q. What is it about a U.S. Open that makes, maybe the younger golfers play well?
BROOKE MACKENZIE HENDERSON: I think just the prestige of the whole event. It's something that everybody looks forward to all year and then you finally get the chance to play and you qualify and then you really want to do well. It's a tournament that, if you're playing well, and you're hitting the right shots, you get rewarded, but if you mishit a shot, then you're definitely going to be in trouble.
Q. How do you overcome any potential case of nerves? I mean, you are 16 and it's like a lot of 16 year olds aren't playing in lots of cameras and people.
BROOKE MACKENZIE HENDERSON: Yeah, there definitely are some nerves out there. Especially on the first tee. Everybody gets those, I think. But I've definitely become a lot more comfortable the last couple of LPGA events that I played in. I'm getting to know the pros a little bit more, getting to know where my game is compared to theirs, which is definitely exciting and hopefully in the future I'll play against them a little bit more.
Q. What about playing here? What challenges did you know you would fairways as they related to your game?
BROOKE MACKENZIE HENDERSON: Pinehurst No. 2 is an amazing golf course and great shots can turn out very badly. The greens just fall away on the sides and you have to hit great shots just to stay on the green and even better shots to get it close, so my strength of my game is definitely ball striking and my approach shots, so going into this course I was like, oh, it might fit my game really well, but definitely as you saw on the back nine, I missed a couple greens and just couldn't get up-and-down.
Q. Do you back off from things you might normally do here or what adjustments do you make in these circumstances?
BROOKE MACKENZIE HENDERSON: I definitely need to hit towards the center of the green more often. You can't go pin hunting. You got to be aggressive to your target, but your target is not to the pin, it's to the center.
Q. How often has your sister caddied for you?
BROOKE MACKENZIE HENDERSON: Quite a lot. She caddied for me earlier in the Kraft and two weeks ago at the Manulife and last week in an amateur event and then again this week. I love having her there on the bag, she's definitely an asset.
Q. What were your expectations coming in this weekend?
BROOKE MACKENZIE HENDERSON: To make the cut. I've had some success on the LPGA Tour making cuts and stuff, but definitely big goal to make the cut and then hopefully climb up the leaderboard on the weekend.
Q. For people who don't know your story, how did you get started in golf and when did you realize you had a future in it?
BROOKE MACKENZIE HENDERSON: I grew up watching my sister play. I watched her every weekend play in golf tournaments and wanted to be just like her. I was three, four years old following her around on the golf course and ever since then, I've loved it. Maybe two, three years ago I played in my first LPGA Tour event, I was 14, which was pretty scary, but now I love being out here and hopefully I'll play on the LPGA Tour full-time some day.
Q. What expectations are you carrying into tomorrow and what do you need to do specifically to meet those expectations?
BROOKE MACKENZIE HENDERSON: I definitely work on some ball striking, just make sure it's sharp, work around the greens a little bit, because the greens are just going to get faster as the weekend goes on. They're rolling pretty well today. I hit a couple putts past the hole, which I wasn't too big of a fan of. But definitely work around the greens and just get a solid round in tomorrow and hopefully make the cut.
Q. Did you notice a change on your back nine in terms of the conditions of the course or anything?
BROOKE MACKENZIE HENDERSON: Well it was getting a lot hotter outside. I teed off in the morning, which I like, it was a little bit cooler. But as the day wore on it got firmer and faster and a lot hotter out. So tomorrow I'm teeing off pretty late, so I'll have those things to deal with a little bit more.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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