LIV GOLF WASHINGTON DC

May 27, 2023

Henrik Stenson

Trump National Golf Club

Majesticks GC

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's welcome Henrik Stenson from Majesticks GC. What a day, 5-under for the day. You're currently sitting at 7-under, T3, only two off the lead. Tell us a little bit about your day.

HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, it was a little up and down. Obviously seven birdies and an eagle is always nice. Unfortunately I hit a couple of shots that weren't really where they needed to be and resulted in a couple of bogeys, but for the most part you get what you deserve in this game.

5-under is always going to be a good round around this golf course, so I'll take it even though I would have liked to maybe erase a couple of those blemishes on the card. But we're at the races and we'll try and finish strong tomorrow.

Q. What was going on with the four birdies in a row on the front? Then you ended up eagling 18.

HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, the eagle was actually before that since I started on 13, and then yeah, I made a good putt on 6 and got up-and-down with another 10-footer on 7, and then I was short of the green, actually chipped it in on 8. 9 is a short, reachable par-4 and drove it in really nice position and got it up-and-down from about 10 yards.

Yeah, it's always nice to put on a string of birdies like that.

Q. What do you have to do going into tomorrow? I know the course played a little bit different today than it did yesterday and might be a little rainy tomorrow. Do you have a game plan going in?

HENRIK STENSON: No, we'll just see what comes our way in terms of the course. I feel like I played it solidly in terms of strategy for the first couple of days. The greens are getting crispier in the afternoon, and with a bit of wind you're struggling to hold the ball with some of those pin positions. If we get a bit of rain, then of course that could change things.

Yeah, we just make those adjustments accordingly given the conditions, and I'll try and play my game, and hopefully we can bring one of them four birdie strings out tomorrow, as well.

Q. The Majesticks are in fifth place; are you guys going to do anything as a team tonight to get this momentum going, to try to get you up on the podium tomorrow?

HENRIK STENSON: I'll just beat them into submission like I done the previous two nights.

No, it's been a while since we've done something good as a team, so of course I hope we can finish strong tomorrow and get some well-needed points for the overall.

Q. How reminiscent is this course of Bedminster? Is there any parallels?

HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, I mean, I think if I look back over the course of my career, I normally do well on slightly tougher golf courses, courses that are not super low in terms of scoring, even though Harold put a really good score in yesterday. I think you've got to manage your way around this golf course a little bit more than a lot of the other ones that we've played so far this year.

Yeah, the rough is thick. You've got to be on the fairway. I think I've hit a reasonable amount of fairways, and from there on, you can try and attack with kind of the mid irons, which seems to be my game when I'm on. Even though I've hit a couple of wayward irons, I've still produced a number of good ones and given myself plenty of chances for birdie.

I guess today I made a few more birdies than yesterday, even though I could almost say that I played better from tee to green for the first part of the round yesterday.

Yeah, when we're done here, I'm straight back down to the range.

Q. In terms of the team, how frustrating has it been? Obviously it's been a tough year so far, but you've got a chance now, as Jane said, this week?

HENRIK STENSON: Yeah, when things aren't going your way, all you can do is keep your head down and keep working away. We know we've got a team that can play some strong golf, so we just keep on doing that, and it's nice to see us in a good position this week, and hopefully we can finish off with a good round tomorrow and stay up there.

Q. You had a lot of motivation going into Bedminster last year; is there any special motivation this week?

HENRIK STENSON: No. No. You just always want to try and do your best and try and put yourself in position to win golf tournaments. Do I have the game this week to finish that off if someone else is really firing on all cylinders? We'll see tomorrow.

But I can just try and play the course the best I can with what I have with me at the moment. It's work in progress, but nice to score and be up there.

Q. Seven birdies and an eagle today; you had a couple of missteps along the way. You said you're heading to the range now. When you head down there, what do you work on after a round like today?

HENRIK STENSON: It's just I got a few things that I'm working with my coach, and it's just kind of trying and get back closer -- I think when you're out playing and hitting shots, hitting some shots into the wind, it's just easy to get a little bit out of sync and out of rhythm, so we're trying to kind of bring everything back to the baseline again, and yeah, I feel like I at times get a little -- I kind of out-pace myself, leave the club behind, and that leads to some of those errant shots.

We'll go down there and spend half an hour and trying to reset.