By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Russell Henley, like many of his competitors, is getting a whole lot more family time at the Masters than expected.

          Friday’s play was ended early when trees fell, and Saturday’s ended earlier as rain fell, and fell, and fell.

          Third-round action was called a little after 3 p.m., with Henley very much in the thick of things, tied for eighth.

          Well, in the thick of those chasing Brooks Koepka, who had a four-shot lead over Jon Rahm and nine-stroke lead over Henley and Company at 4 under.

          Henley’s even round, halfway through, was a positive indeed. He was one of eight players even, with only 12 more under par. Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Sungjae Im were having the best rounds at 3 under.

          The third round started with everybody playing, groups beginning on No. 1 and on No. 10, to get as much action is as possible before the inevitable stoppage.

          Henley’s day got off to a good start when he was able to finish on 18 and get par, no small feat considering his momentum from Friday being interrupted by the stoppage and the nagging weather of Saturday affecting the course.

          That gave him a 67, matching his best score in Augusta, which came on the final day of the 2018 tournament when he finished tied for 15th after improving each round.

          His bogey-free run that started with the second round came to an end Saturday on No. 5, his par putt of nine feet coming up just short. But a birdie three holes later brought him back to even and into a tie for seventh.

          The rain picked up some intensity, and Henley added a rain jacket to his wardrobe, as well as an umbrella.

A nice shot out of the lower rough on 10 left him with a 9-footer for par, but he’ll have to wait until Sunday, because that’s when play was stopped.

          Four players had gotten through 13 holes by then, including contenders Cantlay and Fitzpatrick, both tied for fourth.