By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

            Better late than never.

            Russell Henley can at least leave Augusta National with some belated contentment that the course didn’t beat him up for all four days of the Masters.

            The Maconite had a sizzling front nine followed by a decent back nine for a 2-under final round, setting him up for a top-30 finish.

            In his previous four Masters, Henley has finished tied for 15th, for 11th, 21st, and tied for 31st.

            Henley barely missed on several putts, as he did on Thursday and Friday, and settled for three bogeys, two to start the back nine.

            He finished just after the final group teed off, a little after 3 p.m., with a bogey on 18, his third of the day. At that point, Henley was tied for 32nd, ahead of others who had finished: Patrick Cantlay and Bubba Watson a 7 over, Cam Davis and Tiger Woods at 12 and 13 over, and Adam Scott at 14 over.

            He was 2 under for the day and 5 under for the tournament with a 293, I a tie for 30th with Sepp Straka, Lucas Glover, Hudson Swafford, and Marc Leishman. Henley finished ahead of Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson, Cantlay, Watson, Davis, Woods, and Scott.

            The Georgia grad was one of 15 golfers to shoot 2-under or better on Sunday, topping winner Scott Scheffler, among others.

            Henley salvaged an otherwise frustrating weekend and avoided his first tournament this season of four over-par rounds. Still, it was his only tournament with three such days, and it was only his second such tournament. He was a 1-over 289 in early March at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

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            The Masters was Henley’s second tournament, along with the Arnold Palmer, in which he failed to crack 70.

            He followed that with a memorable Players Championship and 6-under finish. He tied for 13th in both events.

            Henley started Thursday and Friday with double bogeys, and followed an early par on Saturday with three straight bogeys.

            Sunday bore no resemblance to those efforts.

            Henley reeled off five birdies on the front nine, after a total of eight on the front nine through three rounds. He got out of a bunker on 2 with a nice shot for a birdie to get going.

            He teased with a near eagle on eight when he second shot was on target and bounced just in front of the hole and then over it.

            That streak ended with bogeys on 10 and 11, followed by six pars – and near misses for birdies – and a bogey on 18 – for the second time - missing a par putt two inches left.

            Henley’s average in five previous Masters was 72.28, and he averaged 73.25 this time. It was the rare tournament in which Henley didn’t manage at least one eagle.

            No. 2 was Henley’s best hole, with three birdies and a par. He parred 13, 14, and 16 every day, and had bogeys on nine different holes and double bogeys on three. He had ‘em all on No. 4: birdie, double, bogey, and par. He had birdie on 10 different holes.

            Up next is a short drive to Hilton Head for the RBC Heritage.