MARATHON CLASSIC PRESENTED BY DANA

July 9, 2021

Esther Henseleit

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, Esther, coming off a hot tournament at the VOA Classic where you finished T4. Here you are after 36 holes up in contention all over again. How are you feeling after two days here?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: I'm feeling great. Yesterday I was a bit tired, to be honest. I did not really feel my swing, didn't feel that good. But I slept 11 hours tonight and now I'm feeling great, and my golf is also better.

So, yeah, I had a good day.

Q. We were talking off camera about getting from VOA, playing a little later and getting here and finding that time to rest. How have you learned to manage that kind of rest, play, practice mentality now that you're a rookie on tour?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah, I mean, last week was my fourth long week. This is my fifth now. Yeah, I am a bit tired, but I'm just trying to eat healthy, stretch a lot, go to physio, sleep a lot.

Yeah, think I figured something out over the last few years, and, yeah, you're just getting used to it.

Q. Are 11 hours of sleep will do that to you. Let's take a look at your round today, starting off No. 1. You had that string of birdies in the middle of your front nine. Take us through those.

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah, I mean, yesterday I hit a lot of greens. Had some good birdie chances, but didn't really hole a lot of putts.

And it kind of started the same today. Yeah, through the middle of the round I hit a few really close, holed some good putts. Yeah, I just told myself just be patient, and that's what I did.

Then the one bogey, which was like hurting a little bit, but then finishing with two birdies, yeah, made a good day.

Q. What happened on the bogey there? You certainly rebounded right after that.

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah, I had like a small 8-iron into the green and pulled it a bit into the bunker on the left. Hit a good bunker shot, but didn't really get there. Then missed like a three-meter putt.

Q. Then you were able to birdie the closing two par-5s. How important is it to take advantage of the par-5s, especially at the end?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Especially -- like very important. I mean, the par-5s are always the holes you -- you're kind of disappointed if you don't birdie them.

So, yeah, it was great to finish that way.

Q. What happened there? Was it just your ball striking?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: On 17 I hit my driver a touch right so I couldn't go for the green, had to layup. But then almost holed my 90-meter shot, so I only had a tap-in.

And on the last I had like 30-meter pitch. Hit it a bit long, but holed like a three-meter putt coming back.

Q. Being able to get yourself into contention for the second week in a row, how confident are you feeling in your play, especially dating back to the KPMG Women's PGA as well?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah, really confident. I mean, I'm putting good, which is always been kind of my part of game where I'm struggling.

So I feel confident on the greens. These greens are rolling great, so I feel like you don't really have to do much to hole putts.

And, yeah, my game is good. Irons are good. Like I have quite a few short birdie putts, so that makes it easy.

Q. I feel like maybe you can attest to this, your putts were definitely a minor improvement on a round today that didn't need this much improvement. You went from 34 putts yesterday to 27 today. So how does that set you up your weekend of success?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah, I mean, I'm just confident. I know that I can shoot low on this golf course now. Yeah, I just try to be patient and wait for the putts to drop and hope to have a good weekend.

Q. Are you one of those that relishes being in contention?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: I love being in contention. I love it when you're kind of like shaking a bit when you're under pressure. I think that's just what you want to feel out here. It's just a great like proof that I can -- this is the right place for me and that I can be in contention or even win out here.

Q. The last three weeks for you, including this week, how satisfying has it been for the work that you put in over the last year and the last couple years?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Extremely. I mean, I had a really good first year as a professional in Europe. Last year was kind of hard for me because I'm a person who plays well when I'm playing a lot, so I couldn't really get it going last year. Was struggling a bit with my ball striking.

And now it's just like after a good start into the year I now get into all the tournaments, and, yeah, it's just great to have possibility to play here every week now.

Q. And I feel like it can be mentally exhausting to look back where we were a year ago to now. What have you done to kind of improve your mental game and also continue fighting through any pressure you might feel being in those contention spots?

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Well, I just say to myself, I know that I'm working on the right things and I know that I am a good golfer and that my mental game is good. Yeah, it's just like being patient, waiting for your time to come, and yeah, that's it I guess.

Q. Fundamentals.

ESTHER HENSELEIT: Yeah, I guess.