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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 24, 2017

Henrik Stenson

Surrey, England

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Welcome to the BMW PGA Championship. Great to have you back. I'm going to start you on last night, actually and your receipt of the Seve Ballesteros award, must have been a special moment for you.

HENRIK STENSON: Absolutely. Any time you get an award from your peers, your colleagues, it's a personal one, and for this one now to be named the Seve Ballesteros Award is making it even more special. He was an idol of mine when I started playing this game many years ago, and you know, one of the icon players in the game of golf and from Europe.

So happy to receive that from his son, Javier, yesterday, and yeah, that kind of sums up the great year I had last year.

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Quick word about the course. Obviously just played the Pro-Am. Thoughts on the changes?

HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, first time out there. It's good. Bunkers, some of the bunkers that were very penal before are now more playable. The greens are rolling nicely. It's not super quick, but it's rolling nicely and good greens to putt on. It's still early in Europe, as well, so I think they have done a terrific job in getting them in this great shape this early.

In terms of how the course plays, I don't think it plays that much different compared to before in terms of strategy, what clubs I'm hitting and where I'm trying to leave it off the tee and into the greens. They are pretty much the same.

And as always when you have got new greens, you have to watch some of the shots around the greens are a little bit tougher because it's hard to spin it, and it kind of takes a little bit of a dead bounce and releases out rather than gripping on some of the shorter shots. So I think if you short-side yourself, it might be even harder to get up-and-down.

So you know, that strategy of fairways and greens is going to pay off again I think.

Q. It's your first time here for three years. Is that because you weren't the biggest fan of the course as it was, and do you think the course as it is now suits you better?
HENRIK STENSON: Well, the course is pretty much the same layout. Like I said, it's been softened up.

There's been a number of reasons. Scheduling is one. I think before I came back here in '14, my track record, this was one of my worst track records. I had a lot of tournaments I guess around the 30th or 40th spots.

There are certain courses that suits you, that suits your game, and whether this is one of them, well, yet to see. I got two Top 10s in about ten or 12 goes I think. So hasn't been the best hunting grounds. And when you make a schedule, of course you look into that, as well, courses where you play well and you do well. I'll try and turn that around and be in the mix of things this week hopefully.

Q. You were up at Royal Troon yesterday. Does being back at the scene of your greatest-ever moment give you a spring in your step when you come down here today?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, a little bit. It was great to be back there. A lot of the memories are coming back to you. Even though it's recent, it's still almost a year ago; but being there for a couple hours yesterday and seeing the scene of the crime again, it was good times.

Yeah, I just keep on working on my game. I haven't been that happy with my long game in particular over the past couple of months, or even longer than that. It's a work-in-progress, but overall I don't think we're in a bad spot, and it will be nice to pick up some form this week.

Q. As you said, it has not been the start to the season I'm sure you would have liked, but I suppose this is the time of year when you want to start clicking with the majors coming up fast; is it all clicking into place?
HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I think we're getting closer. I wouldn't say we're 100 per cent but we're heading in the right direction. I'm hitting more good shots, and the bad ones are hopefully a little closer to where they need to be, as well.

And yeah, I mean, at some point -- I had a great year last year and always there's a bit of a risk to run out of steam at some point. I kind of did that in '14 after the great year I had in '13. In the spring, it was hard to get going.

You know, there's everything else, as well; the demands on your time; moving into a new house is rather stressful as everyone can agree, I'm sure, and everything else. So it goes ups and downs. I'm not too worried about that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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