Central Georgia Sports ReportFebruary 11, 2023Comment

Saturday's Report: Scoreboard; Mercer, Russel Henley; state/Super Bowl, UGA $, Falcons, Hawks; Super Bowl, NFL, college 🏈&🏀, golf, NBA

Central Georgia Sports ReportFebruary 11, 2023Comment

News and notes of interest to Central Georgia, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.

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Around/About Central Georgia

WBKB-Senior Day set for Mercer against ETSU

MBKB-Mercer looks to rebound from tough loss (CBS Sports Network)

Henley followed bad round with good, but …

After not having played since mid-January, Russell Henley turned in a wretched first round of the Phoenix Open.

Then he followed with one of the best second rounds of the day, enough to go from a brutal weekend to in the hunt to make the cut.

Henley got on a run Friday, but couldn’t come up with the birdie down the stretch to firm up his chances to keep playing.

Henley finished with a nice 4 under for the round, but that still left him – at that point – on the outside looking in. With weather suspending play on Thursday, Friday’s schedule was askew.

The projected cut was 1 over – the top 65 players and ties - when Henley finished, but more than a dozen players had yet to tee off in the second round, and nearly 20 more players were at 1-over at the time.

For the second straight day, though, play was suspended with the majority of the field unable to finish.

The cut remained at 1 over, and Henley is tied for 87th.

He missed a birdie on 14 when his third shot was off by less than four feet and on 15 when his birdie try was off by 18 inches.

He saved par on 16 with a putt of just more than three feet, but on 17, his tee shot went into a bunker and second shot found the left rough, 45 feet from the hole.

Henley left his third shot within two feet, and was able to save par after all. Next came the 462-yard par-4 18, which Henley parred in the first round, for a hint of positivity after three bogeys on the previous four holes.

His tee shot went 12 yards farther than the first round, and his second shot left him five feet farther. He left himself a longer par putt, from a half-foot to just less than seven feet, and he missed par by a half foot to fall to 3 over for the tournament and 4 under for the round.

The bogey pretty much ended his weekend, unofficially, even with plenty of action left. It dropped him to a tie for 91st at the time.

It was a quality round after a disastrous one.

Henley was set to at least bogey No. 11 when play was called on Thursday. Alas, he double-bogeyed it to start Friday’s resumption, and he somewhat imploded the rest of the round with three bogeys in the final six holes for a 7-over 78.

After a birdie on 6, Henley had six bogeys and a double the rest of the first round.

He began the second round on No. 10 with a birdie, and then a bogey, but he fixed things immediately with four straight birdies.

Henley reeled off five pars before another birdie to get at 5 under for the round.

The cut line late Friday afternoon was at 1 over, and Henley sat at 2 over. The good news: Henley avoided bogeys until 18. The bad news: he couldn’t avoid a chance-killing bogey or muster up a needed birdie.

Since winning the World Wide Technology Championship in early November, Henley has missed two cuts in four tournaments, tying for 30th and 32nd in two other tournaments with a combined 21-under total.

Henley will now head west to Pacific Palisades in L.A. and the Riviera Country Club for the Genesis Invitational next week. He finished tied for 33rd in both the Phoenix and Genesis tournaments last year.

Around/About Georgia/Southeast

Georgia connections in the Super Bowl

Georgia spent $4.5 mil on recruiting, a third more than any other

Beck up next at QB for Georgia?

Is Falcons national perception changing?

Failed physical puts Hawks’ deal in jeopardy

Obit-Tech’s first women’s basketball coach

MBKB-Tall task awaits UGA against Kentucky

Super Bowl

Georgia connections in the Super Bowl

Fathers of SB57’s QB wreck the stereotype of absent black fathers

Deep run game fuels Philly run