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MANULIFE LPGA CLASSIC

June 6, 2017

Brooke Henderson

Cambridge, Ontario, Canada

THE MODERATOR: It's my pleasure to welcome in three-time LPGA winner and major champion, and most importantly, Ontario native, Brooke Henderson to the media center.

Brooke, your hometown is just a couple hours away. How does it feel to be back home?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, you know, it's always great to be back home in Ontario, back in Canada. I think the fans always really look forward to it every year, to see me back here.

I'm really excited to have family, friends, and people and fans I've grown over the last couple years come up and watch this week. It's such a great feeling knowing that the whole country is definitely behind me this week and every week that I'm out on the LPGA Tour.

I haven't had a great finish here yet at the ManuLife Classic, especially since it's moved to Whistle Bear, but I really like the course and I think it's going to set up well for my game this week.

THE MODERATOR: Specifically what do you like about the course and the atmosphere here?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Well, you know, the weather is kind of crazy right now, so maybe that will work in my advantage. It's very cold.

The course will play long this week. It's quite wet. The greens are maybe a little bit slower than they normally are here, but they're in great shape. I feel like somebody that makes a lot of putts this week is definitely going to climb up the leaderboard.

THE MODERATOR: You've got a couple top 25 finishes, a couple top 10s this season; how do you feel about your game right now?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Coming off such a great high last year it's been a little bit disappointing, but I feel like any game is extremely close. You know, I make one more putt on Thursday and the momentum changes for the entire week. You know, instead of being close to the cut line, I'm in the top 10 or the final groups.

So I go off that adrenaline, the rush of the fans, and maybe I make a few more and I win the tournament. Or I miss that putt on Thursday and all of a sudden it looks shaky to even make the weekend.

I think I continue to be patient and make that one or two more putts early in the week, and hopefully once I feel the rush of the fans and feel their positive energy I can continue to improve and get better and get back to having some top 10 finishes.

THE MODERATOR: You've played in every event so far this season. How are you balancing everything in the middle of a 12-week stretch here?

BROOKE HENDERSON: I feel like the LPGA schedule has been set up really well so far this year. There has been a lot of breaks in between tournaments. I've been able to play pretty well week in and week out. I'm going to take a break here in a few weeks. Arkansas, I am going take that week off and hopefully have some rest and work on parts of my game that it's hard to work on every single week.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Brooke, what's the difference between a week on the LPGA Tour and a week playing at home on the LPGA Tour in terms of commitments, time management, that kind of thing?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, you know, it's quite a bit different. You know, coming home, seeing fans, I want to really show them how much I appreciate their support every single week. This is the only time they can kind of see my face to face, so I want to take extra time and make sure I sign their autographs or take that picture. Try to leave them with a great memory that they can take forward and continue to watch me in other events all over around the world.

Along with a lot of my sponsors days, I did RBC Day yesterday along with Morgan and Alena and Jennifer Ha. It was so much fun. It was a great event.

But all those things take up time. And more media requests. All these things are great problems to have. You know, it's a great feeling.

I think since I had such an amazing season last year I kind of learned what time management really was and how important it is to make sure I do the really important things, but also take time for myself and make sure that I can play well that week.

Because if I can play well, that makes everybody else happy, too.

Q. With respect to your game, is there anything maybe specifically that you've been working on over the last little while to try to tighten up or things you would like to see improvements with?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I'm always working on my short game, trying to make it a little bit better. Need a great short game to compete out her on the LPGA Tour every single week.

I feel like knew ball striking has been the best maybe it's ever been the last few weeks. I'm really excited. When everything comes together I can get a Top 5, Top 3, and maybe that win here in a few weeks.

My game is extremely close. Sports are such a fine line, and I'm just hoping I can cross that line and perform a little bit better.

THE MODERATOR: Any extra pressure added you feel this week?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, you know, of course there is going to be a little bit more pressure. But I love big crowds. I love playing in front of all my fans. I hope a lot of people come out and a lot of people support, and hopefully I can put on a good show for them.

Q. You talked about last year just being a dream year for you. As you get to this point here this year, what are your goals for the remainder of the season? You won a major pretty quickly; won an event early. How do you set your goals for the rest of the year?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I think there has been a lot of golf played so far, but there is a lot of golf still left. Four majors still left, and I can have the chance to go and defend my first major championship in a few weeks down at Olympia Fields, and then I have a chance to go and defend in Portland again for the third time later this summer.

So those are two weeks I'll definitely want to peak for. Major championships you always want your game to be the best that it can be. My world ranking has slipped a little bit. I got up to No. 2 last summer and I think it's 14 right now.

If I can crack the top 10 in the next couple months that would make my really happy. Then we'll just kind of regroup and see how we go from there.

THE MODERATOR: Any following questions?

Q. At the tournament last weekend you moved into contention on Saturday, and then things didn't go so well on Sunday. What happened there? Is that something you're working on into this week?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, you know, I played really well on Friday and Saturday and was T8 going into the final round, which is a great position. It's really exciting to know that I am competing against the best in the world. If I had a couple putts drop early on Sunday then it could have been a different story.

It was really windy, tough conditions. I wasn't feeling my best. Things kind of got off to a shaky start. I birdied the last hole, so that's good momentum for this week.

THE MODERATOR: Anybody else? Brooke, I'll just end with a final question: What's your goal for this week?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, you know, playing in front of the hometown crowd I definitely want to put on a good show. Hopefully get off to a fast start Thursday, Friday and get into the final groups on the weekend and cause some excitement in this Waterloo area.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much.

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