Midway through the 2012 Nationwide Tour season, Russell Henley’s rookie year as a tour player was not exactly going as expected.
Henley was one of the most touted newcomers on what is now the Web.com Tour, winning the Stadion Classic at UGA in 2011 while still a member of the Georgia golf team.
But at the halfway point of the 2012 season, Henley was languishing outside the top 100 on the money list and had yet to post a top-20 finish.
The Macon native admittedly took some time acclimating himself to the rigors of life as a young tour pro. But once he finally got settled in, Henley displayed the talent and grit that was visible during his years in college and amateur golf.
After earning barely $20,000 the first half of the season, Henley made his first 2012 appearance on a leader board in Utah, tying for 9th. Three weeks later in Omaha, he tied for 7th. Two weeks after that, he made a run at victory in Kansas City, falling two shots short and tying for 2nd.
By this time, Henley was 31st on the money list, within reach of a top 25 finish that would earn him a spot on the 2013 PGA Tour.
“I just got more comfortable,” Henley says of his mid-season resurgence. “My attitude was better and I started to enjoy playing a lot more.
“Everything got better, but I don’t remember a turning point. I started to compete in tournaments and remembered how much fun that was.”
Following three top tens in a little more than a month, Henley aimed a little higher and hit his target.
After at least sharing the lead at the end of each of the first three rounds, Henley hung tough in a pressure-filled final round in the Chiquita Classic outside Charlotte, winning a three-way playoff over two other heralded youngsters – Morgan Hoffman and Patrick Cantlay.
Hoffman and Cantlay both shot 65 in the final round to catch Henley after beginning the day five off the lead. Henley reclaimed his spot at the top of the leader board with a birdie at the 17th, but hit his approach from a fairway bunker into the water and needed a clutch 20-foot putt for bogey to earn a spot in the playoff.
Hoffman and Cantlay both ran into trouble on the first playoff hole – the 18th – and Henley’s solid par gave him his first victory as a professional.
Henley was a distant third two weeks later in Miami, and was in contention again the following week in Jacksonville, this time in the role as challenger rather than leader. He shot a final round 65 to erase a 3-stroke deficit after 54 holes, draining a 30-footer for birdie on the final hole to force a playoff, which he again won on the first extra hole.
After a 6th place tie the next week in the Web.com Championship, Henley ended the season 3rd in earnings with $400,000. His rewards include a two-month break to get ready for his rookie season on the PGA Tour in 2013.
Henley enjoyed considerable success at the amateur/collegiate level, winning back-to-back Georgia Amateurs in 2008 and ’09 during his stellar career with the Bulldogs. He won seven college tournaments, matching Chris Kirk for the most individual titles in the team’s history, and was Golfweek’s Player of the Year following his junior season in 2010.
Shortly after his Player of the Year honor, Henley attracted some national attention by tying for 16th in the U.S. Open and sharing low amateur honors.
Henley struggled for much of his senior season in Athens, with the highlight his win in the Stadion Classic at the UGA golf course, just the second win by an amateur on the tour in its 20-plus-year history. He also turned in a second straight strong showing in the U.S. Open, but his amateur career ended on a down note when he was part of a losing U.S. team in the Walker Cup.
After a handful of starts on the Nationwide Tour as a pro in late 2011, Henley had a rude and unsuccessful introduction to PGA Tour qualifying, failing his first Q school test. Things didn’t get any better once Henley began his first full season as a PGA Tour member.
“It was pretty frustrating,” he said a few weeks after completing his first full season as a tour player. “I did not expect to come out and win every event, but I expected to compete.”
While former UGA teammates Harris English and Brian Harman got off to productive starts as rookies on the PGA Tour, Henley was not playing as well on the Nationwide Tour, and not having a pleasant time in his first exposure to the life of a tour pro.
“I spent a lot of weeks in towns that were not the most fun places to go,” Henley said. “I was staying by myself in hotel rooms and had practice rounds where I was stuck by myself.
“It’s not what you want to do when you’re 23 and on the road. It was lonely.”
The combination of sub-standard play and dissatisfaction with life on the road has gotten into the heads of many young tour pros, and Henley joined the long list.
“I got negative and felt sorry for myself. The only reason I got out of it were the people around me. I’ve got a good support group.”
Things were not quite as problematic on the course, but Henley kept plugging away.
“I wasn’t playing my best golf every week, but I felt confident about my ability to compete.”
Even though he didn’t especially enjoy his first few months on the Nationwide Tour, Henley says he is “glad I started out here. I learned a lot about myself. This was the best year of golf for me.”
Once Henley got things going, he made a major push to earn Player of the Year honors, due in large part to his ability to produce in the clutch.
After playing superbly for 71 holes in the Chiquita Classic (26 birdies, 1st in greens in regulation, 2nd and 3rd in the putting stats, T8 in fairways hit), Henley saw his hopes of victory potentially washed away with one errant shot. But he responded with a putt he said “probably defined my whole year.
“That was as nervous as I’ve felt in a long time.”
Playing with or near the lead the entire tournament made for a stressful week, but Henley handled it nicely.
“There were a lot of people chasing me but I just hung in there. They were coming after me, but I held up under the pressure. That was really cool.”
When he found himself in a similar situation three weeks later, Henley came through again with a huge putt on the final hole and a flawless par on the first playoff hole for another win.
Henley had bogeyed the 17th hole to drop out of a tie for the lead, and thought he was two behind the leader until he reached the 18th green and realized he was only one back.
“You’ve got to embrace it,” Henley said of the pressure he faced on the 30-foot birdie putt to force a playoff. “I enjoy getting those butterflies. When the heat is on, you rely on your concentration and hyper-focus.
“You’ve really got to enjoy those moments. That’s what you play for.”
The next time Henley plays will be in Hawaii in January as a PGA Tour member. He will be part of a young and impressive rookie crop on the PGA Tour that includes Ringgold’s Luke List and a pair of two-time winners (Luke Guthrie and Ben Kohles) who were Web.com rookies this year.
Henley says he does not plan to alter his style of play for the PGA Tour.
“The reason I got there is what I’m doing,” Henley says. He finished his first season on the Web.com Tour 6th in both total driving and ball striking, was around 40th in both putting stats and 16th in scoring despite his slow star
“I’ve never been a big technical swing guy.”
Although he had his 2013 PGA Tour locked up after his win in Charlotte in late September, more than a month later Henley said. “It hasn’t hit me yet. It won’t until I get there and I hear them announcing my name on the first tee “
Henley is looking forward to several stops on the early season West Coast swing, especially Pebble Beach, where he played so well in the 2010 U.S. Open
“That will be awesome,” says Henley, who is also eagerly anticipating tournaments at Torrey Pines in San Diego and Riviera in Los Angeles.
“And playing the first one in Hawaii will be cool.”