Read a transcript of the post-Round 1 interview with Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners.
Read a transcript of the post-Round 1 interview with Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners.
THE MODERATOR: Day one, how are you guys feeling as partners?
COREY CONNERS: Feel great. She’s really impressive. It was fun out there today. Yeah, we did a lot of things well. Always want a few shots lower, but it was a fun day, and yeah, pretty awesome being Brooke’s partner.
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, I think we did a lot of things great. I feel like it would have been nice to roll in a few more putts, but hopefully those will fall tomorrow. Corey went on a real run there on the back nine. He was hitting it super long and far and it was really awesome, and he got us a lot of really easy birdies on 13 and 14, so that was pretty cool.
THE MODERATOR: Nick Taylor also in the grouping and Ruoning kind of the honorary Canadian. What was that like today?
COREY CONNERS: It was really cool. I know a lot of Canadians spend time here in winter and I’m really close with Nick, so it was a lot of fun to be paired with he and Ruoning. Definitely felt the love from a lot of Canadian fans.
Q. Brooke, played twice here in the span of a couple weeks, I feel like you know this course pretty well at this point?
BROOKE HENDERSON: Yeah, it’s been fun to be able to come here for CME for the last nine years, I guess, and then to add this tournament this year is really cool. I’m definitely learning the course a little bit better all the time, and this is such a fun format. It’s so unique, and I’m really looking forward to the next two days
Q. It’s always special for you to play close to home. What’s it like to play here close to home?
BROOKE HENDERSON: I love it. It feels like a home game. I’ve made so many great friends down here and a lot of people come out to watch, not only from Canada, all the snowbirds, but all the people that I’ve met here, too. It’s really amazing to feel all that love and support, and hopefully the crowds just grow over the weekend
Q. What’s it like you two playing together? How do you complement each other’s games?
BROOKE HENDERSON: I think today was great. Ball-striking is definitely our strength for both of us. We hit a lot of good quality shots. It would have been nice to make a few putts, but we’re saving those for tomorrow and for Sunday. But yeah, if we can just continue ball-striking like that, we’re going to give ourselves a lot of opportunities.
COREY CONNERS: I really feel the same way. I think we kept things pretty simple out there, gave ourselves a lot of pretty good opportunities. I felt like we — especially Brooke rolled some really nice putts and they just weren’t dropping today, but I liked how things went today and looking forward to the next few days.
Q. How special is an event like this to have the two tours together on the same course?
COREY CONNERS: Yeah, it’s really exciting. It’s very cool to be a part of. My hope is that it leads to more events where the PGA TOUR players and the LPGA players can compete with or against each other. The girls are so impressive. It was really awesome watching Brooke and Ruoning out there today. It’s pretty sweet to be able to team up with them.
Q. I want to get your thoughts on the energy out there. It seemed like the crowds were pretty massive, especially for a Friday. Your thoughts on the energy?
COREY CONNERS: Yeah, it was great. There was definitely a lot more people out here than I’ve experienced in the past. It was really cool. All the grandstands were filled up and lots of people cheering us on.
Obviously a really popular golf area, lots of golf fans in South Florida, and a lot of Canadians, as well, came out to show their support, so it was really awesome to play in front of so many people, and hopefully, like Brooke said, the crowds continue to come out and cheer us on the next few days.v
