ZURICH CLASSIC OF NEW ORLEANS

April 23, 2021

Henrik Stenson

Justin Rose

TPC Louisiana

Quick Quotes

Q. Henrik, what was the bigger challenge out there today, the weather or the format?

HENRIK STENSON: I mean, foursomes is always a tricky format. We know that. But it's never going to be as tricky when you've got a good partner like I do. We talked about that earlier in the week, to trust, and having done this so many times before we kind of go about things like we normally do. Yeah, we played a very solid round of foursomes out there, seven birdies and three bogeys, I believe. Yeah, we're super happy with that score and the way we took on the course today.

Q. Justin, the way you rebounded from every single bogey with a birdie, how much resilience do you take from that?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think a problem shared is a problem halved in this format for sure. But Henrik was a rock today. I was kind of looking at it in terms of I don't think he made one mistake that led to us dropping a shot really. It was pretty fun just to have someone that was so solid today. He pulled his weight today.

But yeah, listen, I think it's like Henrik says, we see the game very similarly, and I think alternate-shot is probably where we've had our most success in Ryder Cups and what have you, so it was a good day to get a good score on the ball.

Q. You mentioned having this routine down obviously and success. Just curious if there's something you've figured out early on in your careers playing alternate-shot that maybe changed in terms of approach or strategy that's worked well for you?

HENRIK STENSON: This week here you mean?

Q. No, early on playing alternate-shot early in your career, figuring out something, approach, strategy, whatever?

HENRIK STENSON: I don't think so much. I think we both kind of grew up playing amateur golf. You play these formats growing up, and I think that kind of gives you the mindset for the future, and then I think one big part is that I think we see the game very much the same, and we play a similar game when we're playing well, and that kind of makes it easy for us to just come up with a game plan, and we're just trying to go out there and execute it as well as we can.

Today was obviously a good day for us on the course, and it is a tougher format, and again, very pleased with how we did today.

JUSTIN ROSE: And I guess the biggest thing is you have to trust yourself but then you've got to trust your partner, but more so you have to trust yourself. You've got to not worry about what your partner is going to be facing and I think it's all about committing to your shots. Henrik doesn't want to hit it in the water on No. 9 and he blocks it right of the green, probably doesn't do us any good anyway, but the only way he's going to step up and hit a great shot is by not worrying about what he might leave me, and I think that's kind of the way to approach this format.

Q. Speaking of trust, I'm curious, Justin, early on in your career when you were struggling, missing cuts a lot, the expectation for you was quite high when you turned pro, what was the toughest part of going through that process when you look back on it?

JUSTIN ROSE: Well, I think when I look back at it, I think it's just, like I said, the expectation. I think the fourth-place finish in the Open skewed probably other people's expectations. I had quite a realistic plan of how I was going to go about turning pro and I had a three-year process kind of planned out. The Open came around and I thought, well, maybe, just maybe I'm ready to go, just like a walk-on, as you guys would say over here, on to the team.

But it took me a while, had to pay my dues, but it was remarkable how realistic the three-year plan was, but I think the expectation in the short-term is what changed things.

Q. Your one bogey yesterday was at 12. You come back and make birdie there today. How big was that?

HENRIK STENSON: Any birdie in this format is obviously welcome. And especially on a hole like that.

I think other than you could argue 9 and 17 are two tricky par-3s, but out of the par-4s I'd say that 12, 15 and 6 are the three hardest par-4s on this golf course, and of course making a birdie on a hole like that certainly feels like you're picking up a little bit more than just the one.

JUSTIN ROSE: I think another quick key to our day was I rolled it sort of five feet past on the first hole today, or the 10th hole, our first hole of the day, Henrik made it, and I made a five-footer, as well, on the second hole, the 11th. So the first two greens of the day we had those tricky kind of length range putts, and the fact we both made them, one each, I think that kind of like got us going in terms of -- because you have absorb a little bit of those moments and a little bit of pressure in alternate-shot.

Q. What club was that, Henrik?

HENRIK STENSON: I hit a 7-iron second shot.

Q. Where do you feel you are with Pete right now in terms of getting your game back to where it had been?

HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, it's getting better. I've put a lot of work in here and so has he and everybody else around me, but I mean, probably -- I shouldn't say this while my partner is listening; it's not always that I feel as confident as maybe some of the shots that I pulled off today, but it's work in progress, and I just try and -- commitment is a big thing every day out there, but especially I think in this format and on this golf course because you're facing some really tricky shots out there, and I managed to go after them and put some good swings on them and got the results I wanted.

Yeah, it's a work in progress.

Q. You guys missed the -- you didn't put a song in yet. Do you have one in mind for the walk-up music this weekend?

HENRIK STENSON: That's my organized partner had that on his plate, so I'm very surprised that it's not in yet.

JUSTIN ROSE: Henrik is very Type A and I fly by the seat of my pants. I don't know, I think we're going to go for that Fleetwood Mac guitar riff that's just no lyrics, it's that (singing).

HENRIK STENSON: Sounds good.