Henley off to a quality start at Tour Championship
By Michael A. Lough
Central Georgia Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Russell Henley had one of the better rounds of the day, and under any other PGA Tour circumstances, he’d be pretty happy being high on the leaderboard after a round.
Alas, the PGA Tour’s final playoff tournament, the Tour Championship, is unlike all the other tournaments.
Instead of being two shots behind the leader after shooting a 4-under 67 at East Lake in Atlanta, he’s tied for 10th with a staggered score of 6 under.
Which puts him 10 shots behind leader and world No. 1 Scottie Sheffler.
Players are seeded with par scores based on assorted performance numbers. Scheffler began 10 under and shot 6 under, so he’s at 16 under.
Trying to make up ground rather than lose ground on a course that’s been substantially reworked since last year should make for an interesting few days.
Henley certain felt comfortable, with four birdies in the first 14 holes, including the par 5 No. 14. He bogeyed No. 17, then racked up another par-5 birdie on18.
Along the way, though, he missed birdie putts of five, seven, nine, 12 and 13 feet, missing not by much.
Conversely, he dropped in birdies of 10 and 12 feet.
After a round, Henley is tied for second in driving accuracy and for third in greens in regulation, plus four in shots gained/approach to green.
He tees off at 1 p.m. on Friday, playing with Patrick Cantlay.