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THE BARCLAYS

August 28, 2015

Henrik Stenson

Edison, New Jersey

HENRIK STENSON: All right. What do you want to know?

Q. Happy with that?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I feel like I've been pretty tidy for maybe the back nine, the front nine yesterday, I let one or two slip but other than that it's been pretty tidy for close to 30 holes I would say. Made a lot of up-and-downs when I missed and made some solid holing out from five, six, eight feet, a lot of them for birdies and the par putts, as well.

So happy with my putting and keep on missing the thick stuff. I keep it on the fairway most of the times and that keeps giving me the chances to play some good approach shots, even though I haven't played all of them great, I've still hit a lot of greens and I'm still up there in the stats where I normally position myself.

So on a golf course like this, where the rough is that thick, it's good to hit a lot of greens of course.

Q. How aggressive are you on this golf course? Bubba was saying yesterday he hits a lot of drivers. Ryan Palmer just said he didn't hit many --
HENRIK STENSON: Bubba needs to hit a lot of drives because he can't really hit it that far. So he needs to get it out there. Obviously a different issue for me. (Laughing).

No, I still try to crack on on a few of them, absolutely. I took a little bit more aggressive position maybe, and when the rough is that thick, you'd rather be -- if you can get it inside 150 yards off the tee, then even if you're in the rough, you have a chance. If you're trying to play for fairways, then you're laying further back and you miss a fairway, then you're kind of in trouble.

I think it almost promotes being a bit more aggressive on some of the holes. Then there are some where you just can't. We'll see, maybe Bubba can. But there's a few that still kind of sets up for laying it back a little bit, and especially the 7th, it kind of runs into a bunker if you hit it too far and things like that.

But it's tricky. It's an old-style golf course, a lot of angles off the tee, and a lot of sloping greens. So yeah, it's a tricked-up golf course.

Q. Is it a place that suits your eye?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I mean, it's just when these greens were designed back in the day, they were playing a speed that was totally different to now. On some of them I think it's just hard to find four pin positions given how undulated they are and with the speed we are playing.

So you have to be really cautious, and it's virtually impossible to keep it underneath the hole on a few of the greens, and then you're going to have a really, really slick putts. Even though you might have a 6- , 8-footer for birdie, you can just barely start it. If it goes in, straight. Otherwise it's a stress-free par.

A few of them you've got to keep like U.S. Open mentality, every par is a winner, and then you've still got to press on when the chances are there. It's a mix, yeah.

Q. As it applies to Martin Kaymer, I know a couple years ago you were in a similar position -- I think it's because you were sick midway through the season and you played some in the fall when it was still part of the season. This is your 13th event but you were so far up on the FedExCup rankings. Would you have added events as you got deeper into the season to make sure you got 15?
HENRIK STENSON: I like being under the gun a little bit, so it always makes it a bit more interesting if you know you've got to advance an extra week.

Yeah, I was in a similar position last year. It's purely down from the standpoint of being a member of two tours, playing both overseas and here. You lay your schedule and sometimes there's not much room to add one. I mean, Wyndham is always one that you can kind of throw in last minute. I know Martin did that in an effort to make it here and keep on going.

Last year I guess I took a little bit of a gamble but then I sorted myself out with a high finish at the US PGA. Yeah, sometimes you've got to have an emergency plan, but most of the time, it seems to have worked out. So I feel quite comfortable that I was going to have the three that I needed really.

Q. That being said, the better you play right now, the busier your season starts to get now, right?
HENRIK STENSON: I haven't played that much golf. I think I'm up on 15 tournaments so far for the year and I've got close to another ten going. I should have played one more but I was sick there at Houston, so that one kind of fell off. I was heading for a 26-tournament schedule this year and I'm most likely going to end up with a 25-week schedule.

So I've got a lot of golf left to play but I haven't played that much golf in the summer. So I'm feeling fairly fresh. I know some of my colleagues, they might start feeling a little fatigue if they played a lot of golf over the summer. So hopefully that can help me press on a little bit more.

Q. Is that something you learned from a couple years ago, feeling worn out?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, coming off that 2013 season, it was definitely that way. Then, I mean, I feel like we end up a little bit under pressure; that when you've got two tours and all the tournaments, there's not much room for maneuvering.

And looking back at 2014, the first three months was almost a wash-out for me because I was so worn out. It would have been better for me to just skip playing for two months but then all of a sudden I'm struggling with my numbers so it's not an option.

That is a downside, but again, we are quite fortunate to be in this position to pick and choose wherever we play in the world and have all these events to choose from. So I don't expect to get massive sympathies really.

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