VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA LPGA TEXAS CLASSIC

July 1, 2021

Esther Henesleit

Old American Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Esther Henseleit, 5-under 66 on day one of the Volunteers of America Classic. Six birdies for you today. Let's start on the front nine. You had birdies at 2, 6, and 8. Any one of those in particular stand out? You bounced back on No. 8 after a bogey.

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah, the first two were on par-5s, so I played like 3-wood into the green. Only had a chip on 2, made an up and down, and hit the green on 6, so two-putted for birdie.

And, yeah, the one on 8 was pretty good because I missed a short putt on the hole before and holed like a two-meter putt on the next, so that gave me some confidence back.

And, yeah, I was just really happy with my irons. I hit it very close today so it wasn't much work to play birdies. So, yeah.

Q. And then on the back nine you had a bogey-free back nine. Birdies on 10, 11 to make the turn at 4-under, and added one more on the Aon Risk Reward hole, No. 17. Take us through that hole, how you played it, the strategy that you had.

ESTHER HENSELEIT: I took a quite aggressive line off the tee with the driver and only had like 170 meters to the pin. Then I was between two clubs in. Took the longer one. Hit it too good and missed the green long.

But almost holed out my pitch, so I hit the pin and had a tap-in birdie.

Q. Oh, yeah.

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah, that was fun.

Q. That was on the broadcast because it was going to go screaming by but you hit it just right.

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah.

Q. You had a tied for 15th finish last week to the KPMG Women's PGA. You feel like you brought a lot of confidence and momentum into this tournament?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah, definitely. And, I mean, last week was such a good golf course and I just feel like every time you play golf course like that you just improve your game so much because you need to think about your shots, you need to hit different shots.

So I feel like I can really control the ball flight. And, yeah, I feel confident out there and play a lot birdies, so, yeah.

Q. First time here at Old American Golf Club. Obviously the course had couple harsh months of weather that affected the grass but they got it back in quite good shape compared to what it was. Initially what's your thoughts of the course and how maybe it suits your eye, how you like it and it fits your game.

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah, I think it really suits my game. It's a bit like wide open off the tee and small kind of tricky greens, so you need to hit it close to play birdies.

And I'm struggling a bit to read the greens here, but I hope that I can figure that out. I think it's a great challenge and, yeah, it's a lot of fun to play here.