Henley strolls through Royal Portrush with a bogey-free final round for another top-10 finish

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          At some point Saturday, unofficially, the battle in reality became for second place.

No update. Henley did not meet with the media.

          And it became quite a battle, with 12 players ending the third round within four strokes of each other.

          That was the gap between Scottie Scheffler and Haotong Li. It grew on Sunday and the margin for second decreased.

          And in the middle on Sunday was Russell Henley.

          Henley shot a final-round 3-under 68 to finish in a tie for 10th at the 153rd British Open, finishing with a 9-under 275.

          It’s his second straight top-10 finish at The Open, following last year’s 5-under 279. Henley now has two straight top-10 finishes in a major, matching his tie for 10th in the U.S. Open last month at Oakmont.

          He now has five top-10 finishes in a major. Henley has yet to crack that finish, though, in the PGA Championship.

          At one point Sunday, five players were all tied for second at 10 under, but seven back of Scottie Scheffler. And the crowd racing for runner-up only grew.

          Although there were some raised eyebrows after a double-bogey on No. 8 cut Scheffler’s lead to four, but he got one back quickly and upped the lead to five through nine.

          Henley, though, struggled to pass anybody, managing only one birdie on the front nine while avoiding a bogey. Still, he was only three back of those in second through his front nine.

          His great approach on No. 1 from 175 yards to 12 feet led to a missed a birdie by half a foot. Then came birdie misses of 10 feet twice on the front nine.

          And there were close front-nine birdie calls on 4 (26 feet to 2 inches), 6 (32 feet to 3 feet), 7 (13 feet to 2 inches), 8, (36 feet to 2 feet),

          Conversely, there was a nice par save on 2 after a tee shot into the rough and on 8 after a visit to the semi-rough off the tee.

          But the inability to hit a birdie from 10 feet or more remained as Henley – tied for 12th after nine - kept getting close.

          He broke his streak of eight straight pars with a birdie on par-5 No. 12 – which he eagled Saturday - with a 46-foot approach for a 2-foot birdie, putting him into an 11-player group between 8 and 10 under.

          Henley avoided his best shot at a bogey after finding the greenside bunker on No. 14, and nailed a 17-footer for a birdie on 16.

          Ending the day with a birdie wasn’t to be, Henley off on a birdie putt of less than three feet on 18.

          Henley has shot 70 or better in in 10 of his last 16 rounds.

          Scheffler kept the field at bay, Harris English taking second at 13 under, followed by Chris Gotterup. Three tied for seventh and four for 10th.

          Henley now has nine top-10 finishes in 13 full events this year, covering a wide spectrum of courses and circumstance.

          Henley – along with Bryson DeChambeau, Corey Conners, and Brian Harman – took home $304,650, putting him past $9.5 million for the year and past $41.5 million for his career.

          Henley will unofficially skip the 3M Open and Wyndham, taking off until the PGA postseason begins with the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis starting on Aug. 7.