CPKC WOMEN'S OPEN

July 23, 2024

Brooke Henderson

Earl Grey Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right, welcome to the media center at the CPKC Women's Open. I'm joined by Brooke Henderson. Brooke, we'll just kick things off. Talk about being back in Canada. What's it like to be back at this tournament and be playing in front of a hometown crowd kind of?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I'm so excited to be back in Canada and playing in front of the amazing fans and the Brooke Brigade. I love seeing the red shirts and seeing everybody out there with all their support and love that they show me every single year.

What an amazing opportunity to be back and competing for my national championship.

Q. Just talk a little bit about your past experience playing in Calgary, what your thoughts are on Earl Grey, and kind of what you're looking forward to this week about it.

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, this my first time playing this course this week. Played I guess ten holes yesterday and then eight holes this morning.

It looks great. It's in really good shape. The rough is very thick. It's very important to hit a lot of fairways around here I believe.

I think we'll going to see some good scores, so hopefully get off to a fast start on Thursday and make a bunch of birdies.

Q. You talked about seeing the golf course a little bit over the last couple days. What do you think the biggest challenge will be? Is it dial in your numbers at altitude? Is it finding fairways? What's going to be the big thing to have success this week do you think?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, the elevation change is definitely a big thing, and also it's so warm out here that ball is flying really far, which is a lot of fun, especially off the tee. But does make it a little more challenging dialing in your number on your approach shots.

That's kind of what we're doing in these days leading up, just trying to get the numbers where we are comfortable heading into the weekend.

As I mentioned, hitting a lot of fairways will definitely be important. Getting right distances, as always every week is a big key.

I think the scores will be pretty low. Just being able to go out and attack where you can and be smart-aggressive on holes where par is good.

Q. How would you say your season has gone to this point? You got your six Top 10s including a couple really nice results in majors earlier in the season. There is a lot of golf still to be played. At this point in the year, how would you say things have gone? You've talked a lot about trending and things getting close. Is that how you feel right now?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, definitely. I feel like I've been trending in the right direction for a really long time now. I've been close and haven't really been able to turn it over, but feel like it's right around the corner, which is a great feeling to have.

The start of the year was great, a lot of top 10s, felt like I was in contention a lot of weeks, and it was really fun to be in those final pairings on the weekend.

I am looking forward to getting back there. I feel our season might be half over but still so much great golf to be played. I am so excited to be teeing it up here this week in Calgary and Olympics in two weeks and being able to play St Andrews a couple weeks after that.

All huge highlights for me, so it's a big stretch of golf coming up, and hopefully my game can continue that trend and get a little bit closer to the top of the leaderboard.

Q. How many putters have you had in the bag this year?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Quite a few. Honestly I don't know the number, but the last few weeks I've been changing quite a bit. Start of the year I was very consistent for a few months there, which was great.

Just trying to find the right energy. Try to just find something that clicks. It's not putter's fault, but just trying to elevate myself to that higher energy, good vibes. Just find something that works really well.

Q. Last year at this tournament you started wearing glasses for the first time. Have you always continued to wear glasses and has it helped you?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, so it's basically one year since I started wearing them, and it's really nice to be able to see where your ball goes, especially off the tee and into the greens.

Around the greens it has helped a lot. I relied a lot on how many paces I counted for feel, especially for chip shots in putting, where now I can see a little bit more.

So it's a little bit more comfortable, especially on those long putts or chips, which I think has really helped.

I would prefer not to be wearing glasses, so hopefully maybe next year be switching to like either contacts or something else. For right now, glasses is what works best.

Yeah, like I said it's really nice to be able to see.

Q. Happy glasses anniversary.

BROOKE HENDERSON: Thank you.

Q. I remember you saying on media day here a month or so ago that you had a photo I think of the trophy in your house growing up. Curious, whereabouts in your house was that, and what was the significance of that shot for you at that point?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, for sure. We had it up -- it was actually in the hallway where our bedrooms are, so we walked by it all the time. It was taken in 2012, my first Canadian Open.

My dad took it and he's standing there. He didn't touch. He was just standing change next to the trophy, and it was really powerful and definitely motivation to be competing in this championship, and not only just competing, but to try to win to some day.

Winning in 2018 was a huge highlight and I would love to be able to do it again.

Q. I was going to ask, has that photo been swapped now that you have a photo with the trophy?

BROOKE HENDERSON: We definitely have some other photo from 2018 hanging around in my parents' home, which is really nice. Yeah, I think any time you can have a little bit of motivation and something to inspire you in your home or room, I think it's pretty important.

Q. You're obviously still really young. Still early in your golf career. Curious, there is all these juniors and amateurs from across Canada who come to this event and talk about looking up to you as a kid and what your significance is in the game of golf in Canada. What's it like for you to hear those things?

BROOKE HENDERSON: It's pretty special. Growing up I had a lot of role models that I looked up to, and any time I could talk to them, or I got to meet Morgan Pressel when I was really young, and that was cool experience. She was really kind and spent some time with me.

Those moments, they mean a lot. They meant a lot to me an kid, so I try to pay it forward or pay it back to everyone that comes out.

I'm just trying to grow the game as much as I can, and even if it's not golf that they choose to chase after, just if I can inspire or motivate them to chase after their dreams, whatever it is, I think is really a special feeling for me.

I'm just trying to be a good person and help them out.

Q. Obviously staying in the present this week at the CPKC Women's Open, but looking ahead to the Olympics, starting to see some of that buzz of Olympic Village, uniforms and stuff coming out. What are you looking forward to most about that?

BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, any time I can represent Canada I'm very proud to do so. Same as this week. When I step on the first tee and he hear from Smiths Falls, Ontario and everybody gets excited, it's a very cool feeling for me.

It's just an honor to wear red and white and to wear the maple leaf. I am really looking forward to Paris this year. I feel like I have good experiences to lean back on from past Olympic Games, and feel like I'll be ready this year.

THE MODERATOR: Have a great week. Thank you.

BROOKE HENDERSON: Thank you.