Friday at the Masters was a day unlike any other, for Henley and many others who thought - wrongly - that their weekend was done

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          There was a lot of golf left to play, but it’s a safe bet that Russell Henley, and a dozen or so others, got done their second round at the Masters, and started planning for the rest of the weekend.

          Those plans didn’t include the final two rounds of the Masters.

          After all, Henley was part of the implosion parade of upper-level golfers who suddenly were turning in scores of also-rans or rookies or those with a health issue.

          The Masters cut line was plus 2, and plus 3. There sat Henley – and the likes of Adam Hadwins and Jason Day and Sahith Theegala and Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy – way past that, at 4 over and worse.

          They never expected, even with unpredictable winds invading everybody’s space, that 3 over would be inside the top 40, nor that 6 over – and that 77s, 78s, and a 79 on the second day would lead to a third day.

          It did, on a day unlike any other. Birds left the premises, and azaleas may have withered. There were 380 bogeys on Friday, to all of 95 pars.

          Henley turned in a monstrous 77 on Friday, a third of his holes a bogey, but will play on after a cut line went crazy, and allowed for 60 players to continue playing.

          Granted, all those with the crazy scores have no shot to contend, but they get to keep playing and work on a nicer paycheck, while wondering what terror Augusta might wreak on others for two more days.

          There are 11 players at 6 over and six at 5 over still going, including the likes of Adam Scott, Jake Knapp, Luke List, and Hideki Matsuyama, all at 6 over.

          Only eight golfers had an under-par round Friday, with six more at even. A full 21 players shot 75 or worse in the second round, and made the cut.

          Just as staggering: those at 6 over for the tournament are only 12 shots back of leaders Max Homa, Bryson DeChambeau, and Scottie Scheffler.

          Maybe a few of those stunned – and chuckling – to still be around do actually have a shot.

          Defending champ Jon Rahm sweated out a double-bogey on 14 and bogey on 17, and actually had breathing room at 4 over.

          Watching and shaking their heads are some players out at 10 over or worse, like Bubba Watson and Stephan Jaeger and Dustin Johnson and Nick Taylor.

          Emiliano Grillo, 38th in the FedExCup rankings before teeing off on Thursday, had a 12-over round.

          Henley? A year after a bogey-free second round of 67, the course smacked him around for six bogeys.

          That included a mind-boggling stretch from 7 to 17 where he literally bogyed every other hole, that he didn’t par.

          Yes, 7 to 17 was bogey-par-bogey-par-bogey-par-bogey-par-bogey-par-bogey. So screwed up was the day that Henley’s second and final holes were his only birdies.

          The 77 was his worst round of 2024 by four strokes. Last year, he had a 78 to start in the WM Phoenix Open (a missed cut after a second-round 67) and a 75 in the final round of the Memorial.

          Henley’s 35th birthday got off to a decent start, even through six. The chaos started, for him, with a two-putt bogey on 7.

          There were trees and water and tee shots that seemed to have a pilot, for Henley and so many others.

          Little could Henley have imagined that a birdie on 18 after that foggy around would keep him playing.

          Henley shot a 71 and 70 on Saturday and Sunday a year ago to finish in a tie for fourth.

He tees off at 9:45 a.m. on Saturday in the second group, with Thorbjorn Olesen.