Little goes right for Henley in a first round at the Masters to forget
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Things went sideways pretty quickly for Russell Henley.
His first round at the 89th Masters Russell Henley got off to quite a shaky start, with two bogeys in his first four holes.
May be updated after the round’s conclusion
It didn’t get better.
Henley couldn’t manage a birdie and had a number of two-putt and three-putt holes – needing three putts for par on one hole – and is among nice company in a tie for 90th after a 79 to open his ninth Masters.
The 79 was Henley’s second-worst at the Masters, behind a second-round 81 in 2013, his Masters debut, a second-round 77 last year, and two 76s (2017 second round, and 2022 third round).
The first round hasn’t been a good one for Henley in Augusta, with four straight 73s before Thursday, averaging 72 in his previous eight openers.
It was his highest score since shooting the same in the fourth round of the World Golf Championships-Mexico in March of 2018.
When Henley headed to the clubhouse a little before 6:30 p.m., 15 players were at 5 over or worse, including Billy Horschel, Lucas Glover, Sepp Straka, and Thomas Detry.
None were near the 18-over 90 shot by Nick Dunlap.
Early on, Henley was joined in a figurative bunker at 62nd for a bit with J.J. Spaun, Dustin Johnson, Nick Taylor, and Jhonattan Vegas, among others.
Lucas Glover was 5 over through seven, Thomas Detry 4 over through 13. Escaping was tough for all players struggling early.
Henley two-putted Nos. 2 and 4, missing a near-gimme on 2 and coming up short out of a green bunker on 4.
Then he started back into a decent groove, off the tee and everywhere else, with six straight pars.
Henley was 2 over at the turn, eight shots back of then-leader Justin Rose
Early to the clubhouse: Aaron Rai and Harris English at 2-under, tied for fifth when Henley started the back nine, with Justin Rose leading at 5 under through 11.
Henley couldn’t maintain the par play, with a bogey on 11 and 14, two par 4s, as his short game struggled and he temporarily dropped into a tie for last.
A chip on 11 just missed and went long, leaving him with a 19-footer for par, but he missed and tapped in a 5-footer for the bogey.
He was 67 feet on 14 after two shots and was eight feet from a birdie only to three-putt – which he did to par 13 - to fall 11 from the lead and into a tie for 63rd.
He had some quality company at 3-over or worse at that point: Vegas, Robert MacIntyre, Phil Mickelson, Tony Finau, Joe Highsmith, Horschel, Straka, Glover, among others.
The cut line is the top 50 players and ties, with no extra 10-shot cushion, meaning even players within 10 shots may be out. Last year, Henley was among the group at 6 over that just made the cut. Bryson DeChambeau, Scottie Scheffler, and Max Homa led at 6 under after two.
Henley dug a bigger hole with a double bogey on par 3 No. 16, thanks to a tee shot that came up short of a bunker and into the water, and his try for bogey was about two inches to the right.
That plummeted him to a tie for 90thst – out of 95 players - with a 6-under day, two holes left. He salvaged a par on 17 after finding the left rough off the tee, but 18 was a mess from the tee shot into a tough rough, and he had to chip through a bush to get out, his second shot going about 12 yards into low rough.
But then he went straight into a bunker fronting the green, surviving with only a bogey.
Henley will start a yeoman’s workday on Friday when he tees off at 9:36 a.m., with Brooks Koepka (2 over, tied for 50th) and Sungjae Im (1 under, tied for 10th).