By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

 

          To most, Russell Henley is the laid-back, guitar-playing, even-keeled golfer who is married to a successful artist.

          There are those who know of a different Russell Henley, one with fairly long hair, who put donned high-tops and a basketball uniform and sprinted baseline to baseline as a point guard at Stratford.

          Back in the day, anybody watching Henley on a basketball court might’ve thought he was working for a scholarship at a small college, so energized was his play as a point guard.

          “The spastic Russ Henley,” he said with a laugh.

          His basketball intensity belied the fact that he was going to make a career as a PGA golfer.

          “I don’t really shoot anymore,” Henley said. “But gosh, I love basketball. That was so fun.”

          Henley’s fun is now professional, on that PGA Tour, and he talked about that during a visit to Macon in September for the Five Star Kevin Brown Russell Henley Celebrity Classic golf tournament fund-raiser.

          Henley spent that day in Macon signing autographs, signing golf balls, taking pictures, revisiting with longtime buddies, accepting congratulations from hometown fans, and trading wide-ranging conversations with co-host Kevin Brown as the event raised more than $1 million for Rescue Mission of Middle Georgia, the Macon Volunteer Clinic, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

          The two sat under a tent until a new group came up for a photo shoot – Brown was good for a wise-crack or two with each collection of golfers – before Henley sent a ceremonial shot down the hill, and each player teed off.

          Henley happily enjoyed some Chick-fil-A while trying to avoid a table full of snacks that weren’t necessarily from the health food aisle. He asked Brown for some time at one point to talk about Brown’s training and conditioning rituals, the former MLB pitcher still in pretty good shape since retiring before the 2006 season.

          And in between arrivals of players for the schmoozing, Henley talked past, present, and future golf, as well as other things.

          Henley didn’t start his season until the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Miss., sitting out the Fortinet and Presidents Cup. He missed the cut in Jackson with a pair of 74s, and muddled through three rounds at the CJ Cup in South Carolina for 1-under 283 and a tie for 45th two weeks later.

          Two weeks later, he embarked on a more serious road trip, to the El Camaleon Mayakoba Golf Course on a tip of Mexico east of the mainland part of the country, an hour from Cancun and directly south over the Gulf of Mexico from Pensacola, Fla., in the Eastern Time Zone.

          And, as it turned out, he had a better time – albeit different - than a 20-year-old up the road in Cancun, turning in perhaps his most efficient tournament performance with two bogeys, 45 pars, and 25 birdies.

          More importantly, Henley finished, never wavered. Sundays had done him in when he has led in other tournaments in recent years, but not this time. And he’s been preparing for that.

          “There have been times when I’ve blown tournaments that still give me a bad feeling in my stomach, but I don’t really hang on to it for too long, I don’t feel like,” he said. “I think I do a good job of going on to the next thing. I think that’s one of my strengths. I don’t think my strength is I’m as strong as Rory (McIlroy) or Dustin Johnson and can hit it 330 yards, but  I do think mentally I handle myself pretty good the majority of the time.”

          The summer of 2022 was, as he said, weird. Rather, the summer of 2022 was about life.

          He moved from Charleston to Columbus, home to wife Teil and her family, almost four years ago. His parents Chapin and Sally moved to Columbus as well.

          He and wife Teil brought another Henley into the world last summer, Ruth, bringing the family count to five, the three children all being born since 2018.

          “It’s definitely a lot of work, training them to be functional in life,” he said. “They’re really good kids.”

          And that’s why Henley’s trip to Macon was a one-day visit, arriving in the morning and leaving after the golf was done, no socializing.

          “I could never do the job that women do in raising kids,” he said. “It’s just amazing to watch, really. It’s really cool. I’ve got a great wife.”

          Henley is also tending to his aging and somewhat ailing parents. He has no family in Macon, only plenty of friends, many of whom participated in the charity event that week.

          The family combination led to a summer break, Henley competing in only three events in June and July, the US Open, The Open Championship, and the Rocket Mortgage Classic. The US Open was only his second missed cut in 14 events, and he had only one subpar round in the The Open, a Sunday 75 after 69, 65, and 70, dropping him to a tie for 62nd.

          Then came two sterling outings, in the Rocket Mortgage and Wyndham, where he shot 16 and 13 under, and finished tied for 10th and tied for fifth. That gave him four top-10 finishes out of 22 events, and 19 cuts made.

          “That’s just how golf is a lot of times,” he said. “It’s an up and down game.”

          He missed only five out of 27 in 2016-17, with his last win – the Houston Open in April of 2017 – coming that season. H was solid in 2014-15, making 20 of 24 cuts with 11 top-25 finishes.

          Henley’s pro career got off to a nifty start, winning the Sony Open in his debut, on Jan. 13, 2013, and making 17 of 24 cuts, cracking $2 million in earnings.

          The win Sunday ties him with Scottie Scheffler – who has spent a chunk of time at No. 1 – and Kevin Kisner, Lucas Glover, Harris English, among others, with four wins.

          So even before the weekend, and with family concerns, Henley was optimistic, coming off two years of more contention and Sunday leads than in the past.

          “I feel great about my game,” said Henley, who will turn 34 three days after the Masters’ final round. “The last three years, the difference is just work, work, work. I work on every part of it a lot. I try not to take any shortcuts, whether that’s exercise or putting in extra reps on the greens.

          “Whatever I’m struggling with, I put it up on the table and I address it and I practice it hard. It all comes out under the gun the last couple years.”

          While frustration is normal, that get-past-it mentality paid off in Mexico.

          “I've just choked, you know,” he said in the post-tournament press conference “The nerves have gotten to me, and I've made bad mistakes. Bad mental mistakes. And just haven't gotten it done on Sunday. Put myself in position a decent amount, just haven't gotten it done.”

          Some grumble-inspiring weekends last year helped pave the way to Sunday.

          “I felt a little funny at the start of Bay Hill,” he said. “Ended up finishing 13th. That was good. I was not hitting it well. My first nine, I felt a little anxious, and turned it around.”

          And then there was Augusta, which was preceded by two straight top-15 finishes at the Arnold Palmer and the Players Championship, a so-so trip to the World Golf Championships in there as well.

          “I was playing really well, and I just hit it poorly,” he said. “I actually putted pretty well there, other than one or two holes, but I just didn’t hit it like I normally hit it, wasn’t able to get it going.

          “I felt like my game was great going in, didn’t much have it. That was frustrating.”

          A roller coaster followed for two months and four events, including that time off.

          “My dad got real sick, was home to help out,” he said. “I wasn’t really practicing. It was just a weird summer.”

          Along the way, Henley made a caddie change, bringing on Andy Sanders to follow Todd Gjesvold, who had two stints, sandwiching a period where Henley’s brother Adam carried his bag.

          “This is my third,” Henley said. “I was with Todd, who I still love to death, for six years. Sometimes, it’s just good to have a change.”

          Gjesvold ironically was in Mexico as caddie to C.T. Pan, who missed the cut.

          Henley said some players have almost a small team of caddies they rotate in and out, something he’s not sure he could do.

          Last year was a change in schedule strategy for Henley, who was confident he could play well any where, any time.

          “I got tired of not getting more ranking points playing well in events,” he said. “I played well in the Honda, finished third, and didn’t get many world ranking points for it.

          “So (last) year, I said ‘I want to play in the biggest events with the best players, for the most world ranking points.’ So I did that, got rewarded for it, got my world ranking up inside the top 50, got in the majors and all that.”

          He finished 57th in the Official World Golf Ranking last year. He jumped to 33rd after Sunday’s win, his best ranking ever, up from 59th. He’s ahead of the likes of Johnson, Adam Scott, Brooks Koepka, and Harris English, among others.

          He finally broke into the 30s for the first time last spring for two weeks, and has basically been between 40 and 60 the past few seasons.

          During that visit, Henley was confident he would continue to progress, hoping for mort consistency. He certainly didn’t know he would follow two very nondescript and mostly uninspiring weeks – which he, like every player, has experienced more than once – with a calm, consistent, impressive four straight days of solid and basically predictable golf.

          Which has been the plan and goal all along. Golfweek.com noted that of seven opening 36-hole scores of 126 or better since 2020-21, Henley has three.

          A college teammate that he kept at bay Sunday isn’t surprised.

          “He buzz-sawed everybody,” runner-up Brian Harman said Sunday. “He’s a dear friend, I’m really happy for him.

          “Not a lot of people give him credit. I think he was top 10 the last couple years in stroke gains approach to the green. He’s been striking it well.

          “As soon as that putter gets heated up, he’s tough to beat.”

          And finally, again, he wasn’t beaten.