Henley counters a frisky Friday with a scintillating Saturday at British Open, and is very much in contention
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By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
After a rocky Friday, opening the third round of the British Open with three straight pars no doubt was a relief for Russell Henley.
Relief grew into confidence quickly.
With rain supplanting wind as the day’s weather issue du jour, Henley reeled off birdie after birdie to surge into contention by tying his best round in a major this year with a 5-under 66 on Saturday.
He went into the clubhouse tied for sixth, but went to dinner tied for second, only a shot back of leader Billy Horschel, and in a group of five others as the leaders came back to the field.
“I'm very, very happy,” the Stratford grad told reporters. “I don't know how much better I could have played. I hit my driver as good as I could hit it.
“Links golf has really humbled me as this is my 10th Open and never really feel like I've known what I was doing exactly. So today was a great round for me, and I'm just really excited about it.”
This week’s coverage
The British Open has been quite unkind to Henley, but a couple observers are optimistic he'll reverse his trend
Henley off to a huge start at British Open
Wind gets in the way of Henley, and many others, in second round of British Open
Henley stays in contention, turns in another solid round for best career performance at British Open
Henley shot a third-round 66 in the PGA Championship in May, his best in a major since a 65 in the second round of the 2018 PGA Championship. And he’s blowing past his best weekend at The Open, which was a 7-under 281 in 2015.
Of his four full British Opens, Henley has only five sub-70 rounds, including a 66 in that 2015 event.
Links golf courses are unique, as per www.linksgolf.com: “The term "links" (from the Scottish word hlinc, which means "rising ground" or "ridge") refers to the landform on which many links courses are built. They’re usually built on sandy soil that drains well, with few trees and natural hazards such as dunes, tall grasses and pot bunkers.”
And thus Henley’s struggles, until this week.
“About as good as I probably could have played,” he said. “I got two good breaks on the front, avoiding some pot bunkers. Feel like I hit my lines really well. Left a couple birdie putts short right in the heart.
“It's a mental battle over here. I've shot a lot of scores over par out here. I'm not as familiar with the red numbers. I'm just excited to be here for today.”
Henley birdied the par-5 No. 4, and followed with two more, nailing a 15-footer and 12-footer for a three-birdie run.
After two more pars, Henley – who now must battle a rough history on Sundays when in contention - birdied three of the next four holes, just missing a birdies on 8 but draining a 39-footer on 10 after finding the native area on his tee shot, the first time all day he got off the manicured turf.
Henley was inches from an eagle on the Par 4 12, tapping in from seven inches for another birdie. Along the way, he popped into second place briefly, but had moved from a tie for 18th to start the day solidly into the top four from before the turn.
The rain had different impacts on the front and back nine, and scores of putts just missed as the greens grew a little unpredictable.
“Each shot is just so important,” Henley said. “Each shot requires so much focus for me personally, and I just try to do the best I can on every shot.
“Every shot's going to be probably different tomorrow than it was today, and you just have to be able to try to adapt and do the best you can.”
He got out of a light rough tee shot and birdied 12, but the tough par-4 15 got him, breaking a bogey-free streak of 19 holes. His second shot was short, and an 18-footer for par missed by 2 feet.
That dropped him to 3 under for the tournament and 5 under for the day, five shots back of leader Shane Lowry, who had a 3-shot lead through 5 for him.
No. 16 was rated the easiest hole, and Henley had a 22-footer for birdie, but he settled for a 1-footer for par.
Henley - who tees off Sunday at 9:15 a.m. - ended up with one of the better back nines of the day.
“This week, I was asking Ernie Els some advice on what he did on downwind shots,” Henley said. “Every shot is unique out here. You have to hit different shots, all different sorts of shots. Back home sometimes you can be a little more one-dimensional.
“I try to be open to hitting a shot that I'm uncomfortable with because it's the right shot.”
And Henley’s decision-making was as good as his execution.
“Overall, (I) just feel like I did everything really well today,” said Henley, whose best majors finish is tied for fourth in the 2023 Masters. “I'm really happy about it.”