LOTTE CHAMPIONSHIP

April 13, 2021

Brooke Henderson

Kapolei Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right, welcome everybody inside the virtual media center here at the LOTTE Championship.

Aloha, welcome back to paradise.

BROOKE HENDERSON: Thank you.

Q. What has it been like getting ready for the LOTTE Championship week, and I know you've been adjusting at the Four Seasons which is kind of nice?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yes, Brit and I both love staying at the Four Seasons. It's so beautiful and you just feel like you're on vacation here, which is pretty cool. The atmosphere is always awesome and the people are so nice.

I was a little disappointed when we changed golf course this year. I really loved the other one. But this one is great as well, really pretty, and we've spent the last three days trying to learn it the best we can and just trying to get a strategy together and hopefully the game is in a good spot come tomorrow afternoon.

Hopefully put four rounds of golf together that are pretty solid.

Q. What is one of your favorite parts about Hawaii in general and what excites you most about returning this week?

BROOKE HENDERSON: I think just the overall beauty of just the nature that's here, the mountains, ocean, beach. The flowers are beautiful.

And the beauty of the people. They're very kind and very nice. We have always felt very welcome here, which is really cool. I think having won here twice there is just a lot of confidence and a lot of great memories. Hopefully we'll be making some more in the near future.

Q. You talk your wins here in 2018 and 2019. What are some of those memories that stand out the most to you over the last two years?

BROOKE HENDERSON: You know, that golf course really suited my game, and Brit and I just felt very comfortable there. We never really had a poor finish. We were always in the top 10 or just outside.

You know, I think we've just learned to love it here in paradise. I mentioned the hotel that we're staying at. It's just so nice to wake up in the morning and have a view over the ocean. It just puts everything in perspective. Just makes you feel calm and peaceful, which I think is exactly what we need right now, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to bring that into my game a little bit more over the next few years.

Just trying to enjoy the process a little bit more and being calm out there.

Q. 2019 was a spectacular season for you overall. Your win here kind of catapulted you to a win at the Meijer LPGA Classic where you became the winningest Canadian golfer of all-time. What do you think was so right at LOTTE to really build that momentum towards the win at Meijer as well?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, that was a huge moment for me to be able to tie the Canadian record here at the LOTTE and then go on later that summer and surpass that record and make a place in history, Canadian history, which is really meaningful to me and definitely a career highlight.

I'm just looking forward to the next opportunity to get my win victories into the double digits and hopefully get a few more before my career is over.

Q. I think that is a suitable goal.

BROOKE HENDERSON: Thank you.

Q. What are some of your early impressions of Kapolei, and are what are some of the biggest differences between Kapolei and Ko Olina?

BROOKE HENDERSON: You know, we've often like eaten around here and spent time here, even stayed in hotels here before in Kapolei and driven over to Ko Olina.

So we're very familiar with the area. Like I said, just this whole island is so pretty. Everywhere you look there is a beautiful view. It's just nice to be a part of.

Q. We've heard some of the challenges are the small greens, windy conditions. What are some the keys of your game that you plan on focusing on as you navigate this course?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yes, this golf course at first glance looks similar to Ko Olina, and you get out there and there are some slopes, elevated greens, which you don't see at much as Ko Olina.

Just like any time you're playing in Hawaii it's very windy and you just have to play smart and hopefully hitting quality golf shots. But patience will definitely be a big key.

And I mentioned just having a strategic plan out there and Brit has been working really hard, so hopefully we can get a good one together and make it happen.

Q. If you were to win this week, you would be the first person to three-peat a tournament since Inbee Park. Do you think about that while you're going through, or is it one shot at a time for you the whole four days?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, it's definitely a rare opportunity, and so it would be nice to make the most of it. But I'm just really excited for the chance. To be in this position is really cool. I was in it once before in Portland and came up short on the three-peat, but just to have the opportunity, like I said, is really amazing.

You can only do one shot at a time, especially on a different golf course. There is a lot of learning to it. So just being patient and trying to stick to the game plan.

Q. So some questions from Zoom. You mentioned a couple of minutes ago that you changed your off-week preparation due to less events in 2020. What changes did you make throughout 2020, but also how has that helped as we get the ball rolling if 2021?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I wasn't used to many off weeks previous to 2020, so it was a big learning curve. I think we did a great job of just learning how to train in the off weeks so that when I came back I was still in competition mode, which is a lot different.

You can practice every day, but if you're not in competition mode you won't play as well. So just trying to capture that is a big thing for us. It has been sort of slow so far this year in terms of a lot of breaks, so been trying to use that to our advantage of what we learned last year.

Starting in a few weeks it'll be very busy the rest of the year.

Q. I know at ANA one of the things you said you have been working on is putting. You switched. Talk about that a little bit. What inspired the switch and how has it helped as you got used to it?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I've actually gone back, but I still use it to practice a little bit. I think it's just a good feel for me to have. But short game has always been something I'm working on since I was young. My strength has definitely been in the long game. If I can match the short game to how consistent I am with the long game I feel like really good things could happen in the future.

So just trying to make small adjustments and changes to get better.

Q. You talked about at ANA that you were a left-hand low.

BROOKE HENDERSON: Uh-huh.

Q. I think it was ten feet or so in.

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yep.

Q. Are you going back to the one you had before?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I'm going back to my previous grip -- I think anyway. We'll see. But definitely for practicing I still like the feel of a left-hand low, and I feel like it's a good feel for me to have.

Q. Despite less events in 2020, we still saw you several times put yourself on the leaderboard. Is there any anxiousness for you maybe about getting close to the winner's circle now that you're here trying to do a three-peat?

BROOKE HENDERSON: I'm eager to be back in the winner's circle. It's not really something that you can push too hard towards. You kind of have to get the breaks and you have to play really well and be smart. You also need the breaks, and so I'm just kind of waiting for that to happen, and hopefully it's in the near future.

Q. The last couple seasons that we've seen we've seen a multiple win streak of a season coming from you. Has that crossed your mind at all? Is that is a goal for you possibly for 2021 is to play more events?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, you know, it was sad to see that streak end last year, but I'm definitely excited to get back to winning multiple times. I'm just really excited for the next win. To be in double digits is really meaningful and so hopefully can happen soon.

Q. Great. So talk about the three-peat. What would it mean to you to do it on a new course and still get the three-peat?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, that would be really cool. You know, I felt like we knew the other golf course very well, so to come in here and to be able to learn it in three days would be awesome. I feel like Brit's been working really hard and just trying to understand where the misses should be and just understand how the golf course works with the windy conditions and everything, so I feel like we've put in a solid amount of time and effort, and to get the three-peat would be really awesome.

Like I said, it's just such a rare opportunity, so to have the chance is pretty cool.

Q. Besides golf, what's your favorite thing about coming to the islands?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Probably swimming in the ocean and just appreciating all the beauty here. It's really incredible. People back home, I just tell them how vibrant everything is and everywhere you look it's so pretty. Brit and I love coming here and hopefully will for many years to come.

Q. You mentioned in the past that you've been testing new drivers. Are you going for a shorter length than the recommended (indiscernible)?

BROOKE HENDERSON: So I'm hoping that the 48 inch will stay in as long as possible because that's what I'm used to and what I've played really well with for my entire career.

But when the time does come that I need to switch, hopefully not though -- but when it does, I'll go down to 46, which will be the maximum length at that time.

Q. As we begin to wrap it up, we talked about how you're a two-time champion, how much you love coming back to paradise. We weren't able to have this event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What does it mean to represent this tournament, come back as a multiple champion despite everything that happened in 2020?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, LOTTE is a great sponsor and they treat us extremely well and have us here in paradise. So not much more you can ask for. This trophy is always really cool, too.

Unfortunately didn't happen last year, but I'm just grateful that we followed all the precautions that we needed to and that we're able to compete this year. That's a blessing.

Q. You have the experience of the hula dance at the end.

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, definitely not my favorite thing, but I respect it's a pretty cool tradition.