Russell Henley has a career round, takes second at John Deere Classic (updated)
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
(Updated with quotes, story links, video)
Whatever was on the breakfast menu was pretty good.
Russell Henley birdied his first two holes of the day, then took off on a run with five in six holes to jump into a tie for first at the John Deere Classic.
He ended up with a career-low 61 – tying the mark for the best round overall this season on the PGA Tour - for a 265 for the tournament, taking the lead by himself to the clubhouse at 10 under for the day, 19 under for the tournament.
Henley then had to wait, having finished more than a half a round ahead of the top contenders entering the final round.
Dylan Frittelli didn’t let Henley lead for long, tying and then overtaking him and finishing off a steady final round to top Henley by two strokes.
Henley held on to sole possession of second, Andrew Landry among the last players on the course and unable to gain any ground, finishing third.
Nevertheless, it was a huge weekend for Henley, who became a father for the second time exactly a month earlier, he and wife Teil welcoming Ruth Teil Henley to the world on June 14.
Frittelli picked up $1.1 million for the win, Henley $648,000 for second, $240,000 more than Landry in third.
Henley picked up a much-needed 300 FedEx points and moved up to 83rd in the FedEx Cup standings. The top 125 players at the end of the season qualify for the playoff.
“It feels really nice to finish and shoot 61,” he said in a CBS interview right after completing his round. “I think the guys are still going to make some birdies.”
Consecutive birdies put Frittelli ahead of Henley not long after the Stratford grad finished. Frittelli’s back nine in the first three rounds: 33, 34, and 34 with no bogeys in the first three rounds.
His lone bogey came on No. 1 on Friday, and Henley was going to need a second one once Frittelli took the lead.
It didn’t happen. Frittelli was almost an autopilot, hitting a run of pars and avoid trouble, mostly. He found the bunker on 17, but got out nicely and was left with an 11-foot putt for a birdie.
And he nailed it for a two-stroke lead with a hole left, clinching his first PGA Tour win.
That suspense done, Henley waited to see if anybody might knock him from second, and nobody did, Henley taking the runner-up spot by two strokes over Collin Morikawa, Chris Stroud, and Andrew Landry.
It looked like Henley would have to keep an eye on several players down the stretch.
Co-leader Landry along with Frittelli, Cameron Tringale, and Stroud, among others, teed off much later than Henley, who was about eight or more holes ahead of that group.
But by the time Henley finished, Frittelli and Landry were the primary competitors, and Landry fell back with a bogey on 6 and 9, and then on 15, unable to gain any ground.
Charles Howell, Joaquin Niemann, and Sam Saunders also finished early, three and four strokes behind Henley.
Schenck and Stroud stayed within a few shots of Frittelli and Landry, and Morikawa slipped into contention, but Frittelli kept the door shut.
Henley’s 61 tied Rory McIlroy for the top round of the season, and it was best round at the John Deere Classic since 1983.
Six years before Henley was born.
It was a bogey-free day for Henley, who had three double-bogeys in the middle rounds and a bogey on Thursday.
Henley made a big jump from Saturday, improving his driving accuracy by nearly 30 percent points and strokes gained by putting by more than four strokes.
“(Saturday) was not fun, at all,” Henley told reporters after. “It was a struggle. Just kind of all over the place mentally and physically is what it felt like.”
Some work, and a good night’s sleep.
“My caddy Todd (Gjesvold) has just kinda been on me to keep practicing,” Henley said. “We went out after the round last night and practiced for an hour or so. I just felt confident coming into today.”
Time will tell about momentum, but Henley was in need of simply a decent week and making the cut.
“I was definitely a little lost there for awhile,” he said on the CBS interview. “And I just slowly but surely started to kinda feel more comfortable. Body started feeling a little bit better, and I’ve just been putting in a lot of work.”
And it paid off with a record day and perhaps some momentum.
“ I've never finished with a 10-under 61, so that was awesome for me,” he said. “You know, if you would have told me at the start of the day, ‘we'll give you 66,’ I'd have said, ‘that's pretty good.’
“So to get five better than that is really awesome. It feels great to just keep working hard and keep fighting and not get down on myself.”