Monday's Report: Honor Roll (Mercer, Stratford), Russell Henley, GHSA golf, GIAA baseball; UGA, Braves, Falcons; MLB, NBA, colleges, tennis, PGA, NFL, racing, NHL, soccer

May 20, 2024 Central Georgia Sports Report

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College
Links at times will include game story
🥎 🥎 🥎Softball 🥎 🥎 🥎

Georgia 14, Liberty 5; Georgia 3, Liberty 2; NCAA Tournament, Athens Regional final

Pro

⚾ ⚾ ⚾MLB ⚾ ⚾ ⚾

San Diego 9, Atlanta 1

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Honor Roll

SB-Mercer’s Hedgecock makes all-region

MTEN-Stratford grad Barrow among Mercer academic honorees

Around/About Central Georgia

Henley rises and falls and finishes well

With the leaders staying above the fray, the field at the PGA Tournament was playing for positions and payouts.

And for awhile, Russell Henley was seriously in the hunt for a top-10 until a smooth back nine went a little bumpy only to precede a nice finish, Henley tying for 23rd with Tome Hoge and Maverick McNealy.

Henley finished with a 10-under 274, 11 back of winner Xander Schauffle, taking home $170,137.

A bogey to start the day was followed by a birdie two holes later, and then on 7.

Henley’s third eagle of the year came on the par 5 No. 10, a 590-yard hole. That pushed him into the top 10 for a few minutes at 11 under.

The momentum lasted a hole, Henley missing a 6-footer for par on 12 for his second bogey of the day.

That dropped him to 10 under, and seven back of leader Xander Schauffele, who was on No. 5 at the time. So, fighting for a top-10 finish and a sub-70 round came next.

A birdie putt on 13 lipped out, so Henley started another par streak, until his tee shot on 14 went way right, almost reaching the No. 15 tee box.

His first double bogey of the weekend, four holes after the eagle, a 235-yard par 3, dropped him into a tie for 33rd, even for the day and 8 under for the tournament. His tee shot found native area to the right, and a visit to the rough followed. He got to within 19 feet of the pin after three shots, but couldn’t convert the long putt and had a tap-in for the double.

But he regrouped nicely with two pars and then a pair of tournament-closing birdies.

Henley’s next tournament is in three weeks at The Memorial in Dublin, Ohio.

Area teams, players set for GHSA state golf tournament

More than a dozen Central Georgia high school golf teams and a half-dozen individuals have qualified for the GHSA state golf tournament.

It begins Monday morning at 11 courses throughout the state, including Southern Hills in Hawkinsville.

West Laurens’ girls and Perry’s boys qualified in 4A, and Upson-Lee’s girls and boys advanced in Class AAA,

ACE’s girls and boys qualified in AA.

Bleckley County’s girls and boys in A/I, as well as East Laurens’ girls advanced. Hawkinsville and Taylor County girls and boys from A/II made it.

Kimber Kent of Jones County qualified in 5A girls, as did Teah Iossifov of Baldwin in 4A, Mary Persons’ Mackenzie Hicks in 3A, Rutland’s Madison Poff and Dodge County’s Joyanna Rainey in AA.

Brody Graham of West Laurens is a boys qualifier.

The last Central Georgia team to win a girls title was Rutland in 2018 and a boys title was Perry in 1995.

Better weather for GIAA baseball finals

Optimism was rained out early Saturday morning, and the already soggy Luther Williams Field wasn’t in any shape for a day of GIAA state championship baseball.

The group called it a day before lunchtime, wiping out the latest patchwork schedule.

Everything moved to Monday, with two Game 3s at Tattnall and two Games 2s – and 3s if needed – at Luther Williams.

The new schedule: Class A Game 3 at 10 a.m. and AA (Gatewood vs. Edmund Burke) at 2 p.m. at Tattnall; Class AAA Game 2 at 10 a.m., followed by Game 3; Class 4A Game 2 (FPD vs. Brookstone) at 4 p.m., Game 3 to follow, at Luther Williams.

Rain did more damage to all of the GHSA finals, spread out over a number sites throughout the state. Only Class 6A at Coolray Field finished on Saturday.

Around/About Georgia

WTEN-Texas A&M takes down Georgia in national championship

SB-Georgia walks off game-winner, advances to Super Regional

Darvish gets milestone win as Padres rout Braves

'The rest is history': How Trice and Penix Jr.'s intersecting paths continue in Atlanta

As top SEC foes load up in spring portal window, Smart confident in roster

UGA WR arrested on misdemeanor driving charges

MLB/Baseball

Pillar has a poetic moment, gets 1,000th career hit in Angels’ win at Texas with parents there

Report: Former Ohtani teammate placed bets with same bookie as Mizuhara

Bohm and Aaron Nola carry the Phillies as they finish off a sweep of the Nationals

Nimmo, Mets bounce-back to salvage series vs. Marlins in 7-3 win