Henley rallies with clutch shots late to make the cut at The Players Championship
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Days ago, when Russell Henley needed a few shots, he got them, and won.
Friday, Henley needed a few shots, and he got them, and can keep playing.
On the verge for a chunk of the afternoon of not making the cut, Henley came up with consecutive birdies late to reserve his spot for two more days at The Players Championship in Orlando.
Henley headed to the clubhouse tied for 48th, a position that still had an hour or so to fluctuate. But being 2-under was the key, getting him safely inside the cut line. Heās tied for 49th.
For much of the day, Henley was on the outside looking in, after bogeys late on the front nine dropped him to 2 over, and a few shots from an early departure as the cut line went from even to 1-under.
He got ground back with two straight birdies, on 10 and 11 to get to even, but was still a shot out.
His next four birdie putts got to within three feet, two feet, two and a half feet, and eight inches.
On Thursday, Henley birdied 16, bogeyed 17, and parried 18.
The Sunday clutch play that won him the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week returned, and he birdied 16 ā boosted by a huge chip - and 17 to reserve his spot for two more days of action, clinching it with a par on 18.
Henley finished around 6:30 p.m., with nearly three dozen players still going, and a cut line still prone to a change that didnāt.
The top scores hadnāt changed in a long time, with Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia at 11 under and J.J. Spaun at 10 under.
Long before teeing off, Henley got an idea of how tough the day was going to be, when an early cut line a little after noon was set at 1 under,
The cut line for the 144-player field is the top 50 players and ties, as well as those within 10 shots of the lead.
Lee charged out to an early 6-under round for an 11-under score, improving the leaderās score by five shots and suddenly putting more pressure on the huge group at even.
Spaun, Rory McIlroy, and Collin Morikawa were among those with big early rounds.
Wee and Spaun were among the first in the clubhouse, a little before 1 p.m., at 11 and 10 under, Akshay soon following to share the lead and then McIlroy at 9 under.
Around then, 2 p.m., the cut line dropped to even.
Henley got into a little trouble early, hitting two roughs on par-5 No. 2, but got out with a nice approach that left a 20-footer for birdie, but he settled for a nice par.
He started on No. 1, after on No. 10 Thursday. A day earlier, he birdied 2, and bogeyed 3 and 4, but parred all three to get going Friday.
All parts of Henleyās game were better early on Friday. He was within around a foot from birdies on 4 and 5.
A superb shot from the bunker on 6 put him on the green, 18 feet from a birdie, but he parred it from five feet.
Thatās when things got interesting, with two bogeys, a par, and two birdies on the next five holes, setting up the suspense for how well Henley could finish.