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CANADIAN PACIFIC WOMEN'S OPEN

August 27, 2017

Brooke Henderson

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Q. Can you talk about how you're feeling today about today's round?
BROOKE HENDERSON: I'm really happy I got those few birdies on the back nine to kind of get myself back to even par and that feels a lot better. I think this was my best finish ever at a Canadian Open as well when I was looking at the leaderboard coming up, so that's really exciting.

These crowds were so incredible. I just could never have imagined this many people coming out to watch me play golf. It's amazing. Definitely a week I'll remember forever.

Q. They didn't they didn't seem to care that you weren't going to win the tournament. They were right there with you till the end.
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I would have loved to finish a little better for them to give them something more to cheer about, but I think the birdies on the back kind of put them in good spirits again. They were just behind me 100% the whole way.

Q. Yesterday you said you kind of felt freed up with the pressure off your shoulders. Was the pressure back on today before you started?
BROOKE HENDERSON: A little bit. I wasn't nervous, but I had some tension. I wanted it so badly that it kind of affected me a little bit with some of the shots that I hit. Some of the putts, they were so close to going in, and it kind of got me down a little bit that they just rubbed the edge or stayed on the lip a couple times.

But I felt like I kind of bounced back on the back nine. Made a great par save on 11, and then three great birdies that really helped me and it kind of Rose my adrenaline level and I think the crowd got a little bit more interested as well.

Q. Yesterday how hard was it to get to the first tee and bogey your first one?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, it just wasn't really the start I wanted. At the last second I wanted to chase that pin, and you couldn't chase that pin it was so close to the left edge. But a great bunker shot. Again, that's one of those putts that just barely missed and I thought it was in with a foot to go. So maybe that would have changed the way the day went a little bit, but I can't complain too much.

Best finish I've ever had at a Canadian Open. Lots of incredible memories. Lots of amazing fans that followed me all week, and hopefully I can do it a little bit better next week in Portland and hopefully do it a little bit better next year in the Canadian Open as well.

Q. Is it exhausting to think of Portland right now?
BROOKE HENDERSON: No, I'm eager to get there. I feel like I left some things out on the table right now. So I'm excited to get started on Thursday and hopefully defend for the third time in Portland.

Q. What did you learn during this week?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Patience and just staying in the moment. Trying to embrace these fans because they were cheering me on so hard and wanted me to do so well. I felt like I did a lot better job this year than I've ever done at home playing on the home course, just because I just tried to embrace it. Tried to ride their wave of enthusiasm, their momentum. I just tried to match all of the excitement that they had, and I felt like I did a lot better job.

That's really exciting to know that I can do that. I feel like it's just a stepping stone in the right direction, and hopefully when we come back here to Ottawa Hunt at some point, hopefully it will, and hopefully I'll be able to hoist that trophy.

Q. Do you think you convinced some non-golf fans to become golf fans?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Absolutely. It's amazing when I just look around my town and people that are picking up the game that I never thought they would, and young kids and to see all those young kids wearing Brooke Brigade T-shirts this week, and just to high five them in between greens and tees. Just to see their smiles and stuff, I think it's inspiring to me.

Hopefully I can inspire them as well because I think it's a great game. Even if they don't make it pro or don't get a scholarship and they just play for enjoyment, I think it will help them in life.

Q. Cristie made the point of standing back and letting you walk up alone on 18. What did you think of that gesture?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Cristie's a class act. Everything she does, you know, she inspires me. She's a great player, a great person. She's a role model. I look up to her. To play with her three days this week really helped me. Just things like that, letting me walk up on to 18 and soak in the crowd and all those cheers, that was just really a class act.

Q. With so many people are from Smiths Falls that you knew lining the fairways, was it hard to keep your head down and focus on what you needed to do?
BROOKE HENDERSON: No, seeing the friendly faces, I really enjoyed that. It kind of gave me that little bit extra boost. But it's hard to tell faces in a crowd this big, which is also probably a good thing. There were a whole lot of people that I didn't really know who they were.

I feel, like I said earlier, I feel like I did a better job this week of embracing it and using it to help me go forward and to make birdies or to make that clutch par save instead of getting down on myself when I hit a bad shot.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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