Henley off to a sizzling start - and the lead - at Pebble Beach
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
The day got off to a nice start, with a birdie.
The day ended unexpectedly, with a birdie.
Russell Henley doesn’t do that very often, at all, nor squeeze in seven more birdies with only one bogey, but that’s what happened in the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Henley torched the Spyglass Hill course at Pebble Beach and went to bed in sole possession of first place after an 8-under 64. That gave him a one-shot lead over six players.
Holes-in-one by Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy weren’t enough to keep Henley from topping the leaderboard.
“I feel like today the course was gettable a little bit,” he explains. “It was a little less windy and rainy than I’ve played in years past. You know, just really happy with 8-under any course I play.”
“I feel like I was reading the greens well and hitting my lines.”
Scottie Scheffler is tied for 15th. Former Georgia teammate Harris English,who won last week, is tied for 23rd. Sepp Straka, another former Bulldog, is in that group tied for second.
It’s Henley best round of the young season by two shots (first round at Sony). He also had a 64 in the Grant Thornton Invitational, an unofficial event that ended the 2022-23 season. It came in the next tournament after his fourth-round 62 in the RSM Classic in November of 2023 in which he finished tied for 13th.
He also opened the Wyndham Championship four months earlier with a 62.
Henley’s lone bogey was on the par-5 14th after missing a three-footer for par.
His chip-in with a lob wedge on No. 9 was among the highlights. After two pars, he finished the day with pars on 17 and 18.
"I played ‘em pretty solid,” Henley said of the final two holes. “I had a nice wedge shot on 17 to 8 or 10 feet and feel like I hit my line on my putt and went in the middle.
“Then 18 kind of did the same thing: good tee shot, good iron shot to 15, 16 feet and read it right. So nice way to finish and definitely excited about how I'm playing."
The Stratford grad’s complete game is in play after a round.
Henley is first so far in shots gained (5.78) and with nine birdies, tied for first in sand saves and scrambling, second in shots gained putting and around the green, tied for third in putts per greens in regulation, and fourth in feet of putts made (108).
Wyndham Clark turned in a course record 60 in last year’s third round when the tournament ended after three rounds because of weather. He’s tied for 77th after a 2-over 74.
Now, Henley will head to to the Pebble Beach course, teeing off at 11:48 a.m. Friday with Max Greyserman.
“I’ve played he course a decent amount of times,” Henley said. “Andy (Sanders), my caddy, has a lot of experience out there. (I’ll) just try to lean on him. And just try to keep committing to our shots.”