Saturday's Report: Scoreboard; Mercer, Russel Henley; state/Super Bowl, UGA $, Falcons, Hawks; Super Bowl, NFL, college š&š, golf, NBA
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 ā¦
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 couldnāt 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 ā at that point ā on the outside looking in. With weather suspending play on Thursday, Fridayās schedule was askew.
The projected cut was 1 over ā 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.
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 Fridayās 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 couldnāt 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 Hawksā deal in jeopardy
Obit-Techās first womenās basketball coach
MBKB-Tall task awaits UGA against Kentucky
Super Bowl
Georgia connections in the Super Bowl
Fathers of SB57ās QB wreck the stereotype of absent black fathers
Deep run game fuels Philly run
Longtime veterans finding playoff promised land
Momma Kelce kept sons fed with chicken, ribs
A Philly bar all about the Chiefs?
Reidās fingerprints still on Eaglesā roster more than a decade later
Column-Super Bowl no issue for millions
When Kelce got kicked off, nearly quit, fought back
Football/NFL/USFL
Favre sues auditor, Sharpe, McAfee in defamation case
Irvin sues Marriott, employee for $100 mil
Suit-NFL runs āshamā disability program for injured players
Shanahan nixes Jimmy G return, and Samuel said thatās āpretty bigā
Column-Lawrence gets the importance of PR and fans
Browns owners eye a piece of the Bucks
College Football
The old QB who would rather have been a pulling guard is Bamaās OC
College Basketball
W-South Carolina to honor Staley with statue
M-Missouri State coach accused of groping at golf event
M-Column-Tennessee fans already squirming over March
W-LSUās Reese, Carolinaās Boston to square off amid huge seasons
NBA/WNBA/Basketball
Morant on friendsā incident: āpretty much falseā
W-Acesā Davis under investigation for trying to help players outside of rules
W-Griner absent from USA camp, keeping in touch
Golf
Woods to play in next weekās Riveria
Around the nation/world
Disney boss says ESPN not for sale, but pressure is on
Scoreboards
Womenās college basketball scores/games
Menās college basketball scores/games