MIZUHO AMERICAS OPEN

June 2, 2023

Brooke Henderson

Liberty National Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Okay, here with Brooke Henderson after her second round at the Mizuho Americas Open. Really good round. Start at the beginning. I know double bogey, but you turned it around. How did you manage that and what did say to yourself?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, definitely a rough start, but it was nice to bounce back with three birdies in a row pretty quick and get it back under par for the day, which felt nice.

To overall finish at 2-under today I'm really happy with, just with the start and how windy it is. The conditions were kind of tough at times.

So it was a solid day and I'm really excited for the weekend.

Q. What have you learned about this course over the past couple days you've been playing, practicing here?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, trying to learn the best places to hit it to give yourself the best opportunities. I feel like the more times we continue to play this course the better we're going to learn it.

You know, where to hit it. So, yeah, just trying to pay attention all the time and gain some experience.

Q. Obviously Liberty National, iconic course. Played the Presidents Cup here not too long ago. How cool is it for you to be able to play out here and the LPGA to be able to play on an iconic course?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, it's an amazing opportunity to be able to be here so close to New York City and play this amazing golf course.

It's really cool for the LPGA girls, but also the AJGA girls as well. So it's a really amazing venue and really unique format so I think it's a pretty cool week.

Q. All the different slopes on these greens, when you had the longer putts you were able to get them very close and looked like they were going in. How have you been able to read them very well?

BROOKE HENDERSON: They're tricky to read. I've been depending a lot on my sister, my caddie, Brit. She's been doing a good job.

Just over the next few days continue to try to get the pace on them and hopefully see a few of them go in.

Q. When she kind of angles the pin when it is still in the cup as you're hitting it, how does that help you determine your line?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Oh, when she's tending it?

Q. Yeah.

BROOKE HENDERSON: Tending, I don't see very well, so she's just trying to help me out a little bit tending the flag there.

But when she holds it out in front when we're still reading it, it's just a good method that we've used over the last I guess seven years or so. My coach thinks it's a good way for us to read the greens and give myself a good opportunity to make the putt.

Q. And you talk about finding the right places to attack on this golf course. Come tomorrow, with the wind swirling all the time, how does that kind of influence whether you go for the green around a par-5 or determine you might have to layup?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, all just depends on the conditions and the wind. It's very strong and picks up a lot in the afternoon, so depending on when our tee times are it's going to play a little bit of havoc.

So we just have to play smart, but when we have a good number and can make a good swing, then we can kind of be aggressive and chase some birdies.

Q. When you're playing 72, is the first 36 put myself in position and then go from there?

BROOKE HENDERSON: I think so. Yeah, you know, you just want to give yourself a good chance on the weekend, so if you can be close to the top the leaderboard, that's a great feeling. Especially on the first page. You can really give it a go over the last two days.

But tomorrow is moving day so see what happens.

Q. The other thing I was noticing is yesterday most of the leaders came from the morning. Are the conditions more benign in the morning?

BROOKE HENDERSON: You know, there is not much wind early and it's still pretty warm out, so it's really scorable maybe the first five to nine holes that you're playing.

After that the wind starts to pick up and gets a little bit harder as the day goes on. Morning tee times definitely have a little bit of an advantage I would say.

Q. Coming into this, how was your game? I know you won early in the year. I mean, how is it shaping up now?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, it's kind of been a weird year. I started out on such a high winning the first event back, and then kind of been a little up and down since then.

I'm hoping to start the upward trend and have some really solid finishes here the next few weeks.

Q. I have one more question: I know you're a former AJGA player. You're going to be paired up with an AJGA girl tomorrow. How excited are you for that? What sort of advice do you have ready to give, if any?

BROOKE HENDERSON: You know, I loved playing on the AJGA circuit. I always wanted to win one of those bags with the AJGA champion on it, so I was really pumped up when I was finally able to win one of those.

So I think it's just such a unique and amazing opportunity for us and also for the girls to be paired together on a weekend in an LPGA Tour event. So I think it's just going to be a lot of fun and we'll see what happens.

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