By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

 

          The plan was simple.

          Hit fairways, and stay in the present.

          And for awhile, Russell Henley was able to maintain both, holding sole possession of first place in the 121st U.S. Open through five holes on the final day.

          But the dream weekend, for the most part, came to a halt with three straight bogeys, ending Henley's title hopes while steering him to a top-15 finish.

          Jon Rahm made a run and birdied the last two holes for a one-shot lead, and had to wait out Louis Oosthuizen, who was about three holes behind. The lead grew to two, and Oosthuizen was unable to pull off the comeback after losing the lead.

Leaderboard
Rahm storms to strong finish for Open win
DeChambeau shrugs off wild Sunday
Hughes got a ball stuck where?
Pressure, course took a toll

          Rahm was 4 under for the day and 6 under for the tournament. Oosthuizen stayed up top the leaderboard most of the day, and Rahm started the day only three back.

          The placement on the leaderboard aside, Henley still had by far the best major of his career, never falling lower than a tie for eighth until he bogeyed the final hole of the tournament, breaking a streak of four straight pars. That dropped him into a tie for 13th. His best in a major remains a tie for 11th in the 2017 Masters. This weekend is good for his second-best Majors finish, although the score and finish are only part of the context.

          He led or was tied for the lead for three days, falling out of the lead only momentarily a few times, including to start the final round tied with Oosthuizen and Hughes at 5 under beginning the final round.

“It was definitely cool to be leading going into the final round, but like I've known the whole week, you've got to play 72 holes,” Henley told reporters afterward. “Definitely feel like I got better as a player, but yeah, definitely stings to finish like I did.”

Players will go from one coast to the far extreme across country, for the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. Henley and Hughes are in the field, Oosthuizen isn't.

          Henley started Sunday in the next-to-last group, with Rory McIlroy, followed by Oosthuizen and Hughes, with competition getting tighter.

          The Stratford and Georgia grad was fairly normal early, going back and forth with Oosthuizen, taking the lead after an Oosthuizen bogey.

          Chasing Henley, at 3 under, were Brooks Koepka, Paul Casey, Collin Morikawa, Matthew Wolff, and Rahm.

          And then things began to crumble.

          He barely missed for par on 6, and the bogey dropped him into a four-way tie for first, with six more a shot back.

          Henley was in a deep fairway bunker with tough lie after two on 7. His second shot went about 40 yards into the fairway and third to the green. His try for par just missed - which was normal for the weekend, Henley only an inch or two off on scores of putts - and he bogeyed from a foot out.

          The slide continued on No. 8 with another missed fairway (into a bunker), and a bogey on a par 3, his third straight bogey.

          Suddenly, Henley went from alone in first to three back of DeChambeau, into a tie for eighth. Hughes had stabilized, and was 3 under and tied for fifth, the first two groups through eight holes.

          DeChambeau overcame a rough start on Thursday and stormed ahead with bogey-free golf.

          That streak broke as Oosthuizen simply hit pars and suddenly had a two-shot lead after 10.

          Henley was four back at that point, and tied with former Georgia roommate Harris English, who was about six holes ahead.

          English finished with a 3-under 68 for the day, a tie for fourth at the time and a 3-under 281 for the tournament.

          What might lay ahead for Henley on the back nine?

          Saturday's back nine was where chances to pull ahead went awry, with bogeys on 10 and 15, and no momentum after a quality save from the bunker for birdie on 11.

          In the first three rounds, he bogeyed and birdied 10 and 15, and birdied 18th twice. Overall, he had five birdies and three bogeys on the back nine in the first three days.

          But Henley needed the leaders to come back to him a little while he regrouped. DeChambeau did his part, dechambeauing, with two bogeys and a double, passing Henley going in the other direction.

          Hughes had a shot get stuck in a tree on 11 en route to a double bogey, followed by a bogey. Oosthuizen bogeyed 11, and McIlroy followed a bogey with a double bogey.

          English was in the clubhouse, as was Koepka, at 2 under.

          Henley followed the stumbles with four straight pars, and there he sat, tied for fifth, three shots back with six holes left, seven for Oosthuizen.

          On the 616-yard par 5 No. 13, right after McIlroy tapped in for birdie to also go 2-under and tie Henley, but only momentarily.

          Henley missed hard from six feet for birdie and had a longer shot for par, which he missed, bogeying.

          That dropped Henley to five back of Oosthuizen with five holes left, ending his hopes for a shocking comeback. But Henley impressively finished strong, with four pars before a defeating bogey on 18, which he’d birdied twice.

          Henley's start was shaky, into a rough and then into a bunker, followed by too-strong a third shot that left him 28 feet from par. He was just short, and bogeyed, to fall out of the lead and into a tie with Jon Rahm.

          Henley bogeyed No. 1 on Thursday, and rebounded to shoot 67 and share the lead. His birdie shot on 2 missed by an inch, and he parred.

          Oosthuizen then took sole possession of first after a Hughes bogey on 1. That lasted until Henley birdied 3 to tie it up again.

          Henley retook the lead by himself when Oosthuizen bogeyed 4. DeChambeau moved into a temporary tie with McIlroy, Oosthuizen, and Hughes one back through five.

          The 121st U.S. Open then started getting mighty unpredictable.

Henley tried to stick to his plan, but couldn’t quite do it.

“Just keep doing what I was doing, just trying to keep hitting fairways, make committed swings and put them on the right side of the hole,” he said. “And I didn't do that nearly as well today and didn't putt well, either. Tough day, but yeah.”