Henley spends part of second round in lead at Sony, which got crowded
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Russell Henley is having quite the trip down Memory Lane.
He started his first tournament as a pro on Jan. 10, 2013, at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Three days later, he won his first tournament as a pro, with a 24-under 256 at the Sony.
Here he goes again. Maybe.
Henley spent part of Friday’s second round tied for first with Zach Johnson, and ended up with a 3-under round to finish the day in a tie for 11th after a flurry of movement late in the round.
Johnson played in that tournament back in 2013, and failed to make the cut with a second-round 69 after opening with a 62. He followed up Thursday’s 8-under 66 with a 4-uder 66 to tie Stepp Straka for second.
A late hiccup dropped Henley from sharing the lead, but he crept back and went to the clubhouse tied for third, behind leaders Kensei Hirata and Johnson, who were still on the course when Henley finished.
By the end of the day in the 141-player field, Hirata dropped into a tie for third after a jump of 41 spots, and Patrick Fishburn and Denny McCarthy had taken over first. The cut line of 3 under allowed 61 players to continue.
Lee Hodges and Alex Smalley jumped 38 spots into a tie for sixth, Rico Hoey leaping 57 spots to join Henley among seven tied for 11th, three shots back.
Henley opened with something of a rarity for him, a birdie. After reeling off five straight pars, he birdied the next three holes.
There was a gasp on 18 – he started on No. 10 – after his second shot found the bunker just short and left of the green. A near-perfect chip just missed an eagle and he took a nice birdie to make the turn at 4 under.
That put him in the lead by himself, albeit only temporarily. From most of the second nine, he and Johnson remained tied, and then were joined by Sepp Straka, who was playing a hole behind Henley.
Hodges replaced Henley in a three-way tie for first when Henley double-bogeyed No. 6 (his 15th hole of the day) to fall into a tie for fifth.
He really missed on his second shot, finding the left rough. Henley reached just off the green, but his next shot was too hard and skipped completely to the other side of the green.
He barely lipped the 10-footer for bogey and tapped in from a few inches.
Henley regrouped and parred from 18 inches on 7/16 and then drained a 14-footer for a birdie to get within two of now-lone leader Johnson, Hodges and Hirate tied for second.
Then Hodges bogeyed 15, and Henley was tied for third with he and Straka, finishing with a par.
Henley, who has birdied three of the four par 5s, opened that 2013 Sony with a pair of 63s, shot 67 on Saturday, and finished with a 63.