Henley loses lead at Tour Championship as Fleetwood surges, but Henley finishes strong for a tie

By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

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          The day got off to a sizzling start, and ended with a different version of the same exclamation point.

          In between, some good golf.

          Russell Henley didn’t match his headline-making first round, but a strong finish kept him in a tie for first in the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.

          Henley followed a 9-under with a 4-under 66 and birdied the final hole to get back into a tie for first, which Tommy Fleetwood battled into around the midway part of the day.

          They’re at 13 under 127s, two up on Cameron Young – who had the best round of the day at 62 –and three on Robert MacIntyre and Patrick Cantlay.

          Henley and Fleetwood, who is looking for his first Tour win, tee off at 3 p.m. on Saturday in the final group.

          Weather softened the course, and led to early tee times on Friday. Henley didn’t think the course was softer.

          “I felt like if you were in the rough, it was going to be even harder,” he said. “I feel like it was playing a touch longer today, and I feel like I stayed pretty patient.”

          Henley’s third shot of the day all but erased memories of his second. That one plopped into the left bunker on No. 1, but Henley dug out superbly and birdied it from 27 feet.

          “Hit a 3-wood in there today, 250 yards to the front of the green,” Henley said. “It felt like an eagle. Kind of snuck in the side corner of that bunker shot. Nice way to start.”

          The bunker on No. 4 wasn’t as friendly, and he bogeyed the par 4 hole, birdying the par 5 No. 6 from five feet.

          He got back on the track of consistency with six straight pars before a birdie on No. 13 with another 5-footer.

          He covered the same distance to birdie No. 17, and then was in sand yet again on his second shot on 18, 61 feet from the pin, with no good look at anything.

          Henley used his caddy and the background for depth perception, and drove it out of the bunker, finding super pace as the ball rolled just past the pin.

          Then came his longest putt of the day, and he dropped the 14-footer for a birdie.

          That put him into a tie for first with Fleetwood, who had a big day with a 62 and jumped into share of the lead at 10-under.

          Henley dropped to third momentarily in the back nine, but kept grinding and came up with quality shots, if nothing spectacular in a round with five birdies and a bogey.

          A day after making 207 feet worth of putts, Henley settled back into a more normal 61 feet worth of putts.

          Henley remained sharp off the tee, tying for first in driving accuracy and tying for eighth in distance. He was third in shots gained around the green, and tied for ninth in shots gained total.

          “I hit my driver awesome,” Henley said. “I hit a lot of shots today that were really good shots that maybe didn’t end up quite close enough or maybe gave myself a little bit of an awkward birdie putt.

          “But still feel like I putted it well, hit my lines really well, and just hit a bunch of fairways. That’s what you’ve got to do around here.”