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U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

May 30, 2019

Esther Henseleit

Charleston, South Carolina

THE MODERATOR: It's my pleasure to welcome in Esther Henseleit to the media center at the U.S. Women's Open. Esther with a 5-under 66 in her U.S. Women's Open debut.

Congratulations on a great round. Esther, 11 fairways, 15 greens, 28 putts. Can you take us through the round and how you felt like you played today?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: I started on the 10th. I think 10 and 11 are really tough holes, and I was even par after those two. I felt, okay, I'm playing good. Then I holed two long putts, one on 12 and one on 14. So I felt like, okay, today could be good. I also had an easy birdie on the par 5 following, so I was minus 3 through six.

I felt good, and my swing felt good. Yeah, I just continued playing. Then I struggled on the back nine a little, like I had two quite hard up and downs, which I made.

THE MODERATOR: Which holes were those?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: That was on 2 and 3.

THE MODERATOR: And then you came back with birdies, right, on No. 4 and 5?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Right, on 4 I had 200 meter, and had a 2-meter birdie putt and made that one. And on the 5, I had like a 55-meter pitch and hit it quite close, so like maybe 2 feet.

THE MODERATOR: Now, you earned the first alternate spot in the England qualifier.

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah.

THE MODERATOR: So when you lost that playoff to automatically get into the Championship, could you ever have imagined in your wildest dreams you'd be sitting here in second place about halfway through the first round of the Women's Open?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Not really. Back at the qualifier in London, I was doing really well, and then I played some stupid bogeys in the end and lost in the playoff, and I felt like, okay, there's no chance I could play in there, and it was really sad. And when I got the message, like maybe 1 1/2 weeks ago, and, of course, I couldn't imagine to like sit here and do that good.

I mean, I played quite good this year, and I gained a lot of confidence on the Ladies European Tour. Yeah, it's good to be here.

THE MODERATOR: You mentioned you played quite well. Six top ten finishes in seven starts on the Ladies European Tour this year. Quite impressive. How much golf have you played in the United States?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Not much. I played the Junior Solheim Cup in Des Moines. That was my only experience in the U.S. I've only been here to practice or so. But I kind of like the golf courses over here, and I think my game fits quite well to it.

THE MODERATOR: Let's open it up to some questions.

Q. Great round, Esther. What's the state of women's golf in Germany right now? You grew up, and you turned professional at a young age. What's the scene like there right now?
ESTHER HENSELEIT: Well, I think golf isn't one of the big sports in Germany, but it grows a lot. We have some really good girls on the LET who are doing really good this year. I think we kind of get into it more and more.

Q. Esther, great round today.
ESTHER HENSELEIT: Thank you.

Q. Can you talk about the design of this golf course and whether the fall-offs on the sides of the greens and the way this course is designed, does it play a little bit like a European course or a course you might be a little bit more familiar with?
ESTHER HENSELEIT: Not really. I think most of the European golf courses are a bit like more tight, and the fairway isn't that large, I would say. But I really like that. And the greens are -- I think the greens are the difficult part of this golf course. I mean, it's not that long, but you can lose many shots if you're on the wrong side of the pin.

Q. What did you do well today when you missed a green? What kind of shots were you hitting around the greens when you missed them?
ESTHER HENSELEIT: What do you mean?

Q. Like were you putting from off the green a lot? Were you hitting a lot of low chips? What kind of shots?
ESTHER HENSELEIT: Well, I only missed three greens, and it was in the bunker two times, and one time I was like in the downhill rough to the bunker. So, yeah, the bunker was quite good, and also we had a shot that was like a bit hit and hope, but it was quite good.

THE MODERATOR: Esther, how is the heat out there today? Obviously, it's been quite warm all week, something you may not be quite as used to over in Europe. How did that affect you in the practice round and then, of course, today?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Of course, I think you need to drink a lot and seek shadow if you can, but I mean it doesn't really influence my golf game. I really like the heat.

Q. Just curious if there was anything that was sort of overwhelming about the week when you first got here, this being your first Women's Open and probably seeing a lot of faces you've seen on TV before.
ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah, sure. I mean, it's a completely new experience for me to play here, and the grandstands are huge and very many people around, but I don't feel like that it's too much for me. So I really like that. I really like to play in front of many people. So it's a great, great thing to be here.

Q. Were you around when the Solheim Cup was in Germany? Were you on site for that?
ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah, I watched everything, also the juniors and the whole week. It was, I think, a really good step for women's golf in Germany.

Q. Your bio in the player guide says you were introduced to golf at age 8 when your mother took up the game. Could you recall -- first if you could tell us your mother's name, and what were those early days of exposure to the game like for you?
ESTHER HENSELEIT: Well, my mother, Iris, she got me into it, and I played tennis before, also quite good. So I knew how to swing -- I kind of knew how to swing a golf club and how to do it. So I did quite well early, and I really liked it because you play against your cards and not against another person, and you really have to focus on yourself and do that.

THE MODERATOR: Esther Henseleit, a 5-under 66 to start your U.S. Open. Congratulations and best of luck the rest of the week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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