Sunday's Daily News 'n Notes: Henley strong again, advances; Braves fall; Falcons, NASCAR, Indy 500, and more

August 23, 2020 Central Georgia Sports Report

Sunday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media. Updates will be noted, so check back.

Henley recovers well, another strong Sunday, advances to next round

A double bogey on the second hole of the day.

A bogey two holes later.

Suddenly, Russell Henley seemed reeling from contender to flailing, losing the momentum to keep playing in the PGA playoffs.

He straightened things out, immediately and for the rest of the afternoon.

Henley got a couple strokes back quickly with birdies on two of the next three holes, and stayed steady en route to a 3-under final round of the Northern Trust, and 15-under 269 for the tournament.

That was good for a tie for eighth – with Ryan Palmer and Alex Noren – with everybody watching Dustin Johnson pull away for a staggering 11-shot win with a 30-under 254.

Harris English was 20 under with a x for second.

Henley started the tournament ranked 101st n the FedEx Cup rankings, and made the biggest jump of any player in the tournament, 40 spots to 61st.

That allows him to advance to the next round, the top 70 players set of for the BMW Championship in Olympia Fields, Ill. After that, the top 30 by ranking go to the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.

Henley stopped his tournament trend, which was each round was three strokes worse than the previous one. He opened with a 64 and followed with a 67 and then a 70.

He birdied four of the final seven holes – including 18 for the second time to go with an eagle - for a back-nine 31. Henley hardly fell from the top 10 all weekend.

Henley is on a roll, with the 15-under following a 16-under in the Wyndham. In the six regular events since golf’s return, Henley has been under par in each, including the two tournaments he missed the cut.

It’s the first time he’s been at under 270 in consecutive events since June/July of 2018, and the first time on consecutive weekends for the first time in his professional career.

Around/About Georgia

Braves fall at home

The Acuna-Pache issue

Dream’s streak finally over

Falcons O needs work

From Sunday’s Atlanta practice

Sports and COVID-19/Georgia

Playing in an empty Mercedes-Benz?

Sports and COVID-19

False positives becoming an issue

Bubble fun has decreased a bit in the NBA

Stanford cuts will hurt Olympic effort