A rough Sunday at the BMW a distant memory for Russell Henley, officially qualifying for the Ryder Cup team
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
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There wasn’t much suspense, and his rough final round in the BMW Championship had nothing to do with it.
But Russell Henley can now add being a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team on his growing resume.
Henley was ranked fourth on the nation’s Ryder Cup standings to determine automatic spots. He was behind Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, and Xander Schauffele, and just ahead of former Georgia teammate Harris English and LIV golfer Bryson DeChambeau.
Henley and Spaun are making their Ryder Cup debuts, and as automatic qualifiers. Six more “Captain’s Choices” will be made after the Tour Championship.
The Stratford grad has been in the top six for a good while. His last two tournaments have been his worst finishes since missing the PGA Championship cut in May, tying for 17th last week and 15th this week.
He’s seventh in the FedEx Cup standings, and fifth in the Official World Golf Rankings.
This year’s Ryder Cup is set for Sept. 25-28 in Farmingdale, N.Y. on the par-71, 7,426-ard Bethpage Black course.
Henley has played the course once, and it’s been awhile. He finished tied for 48th with a 2-over 286 in The Barclays in August of 2016.
The match-play event is played every two years. Europe has won eight of the last 11 tournaments.
Henley had a rough final round Sunday in Maryland, with a 3-over 73 to finish 2 under for the tournament. He tied for 15th with Taylor Pendrith, each with 278s, a stroke ahead of Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley.
He opened the day with two bogeys before reeling off a run of pars until his first birdie, and only birdie, on No. 11. A bogey on 12 and 17 followed.
It was his worst round since a 73 in the third round of the Memorial in early May, 20 rounds ago..