GREENSBORO, N.C. — Russell Henley has unfinished business at the Wyndham Championship.
The 34-year-old Georgia grad has finished in the top 10 at Sedgefield Country Club the last three years, including in 2021 when he raced out of the gate with a 62 but blew the lead on the final hole and missed a six-man playoff by a stroke.
“I think about it a lot,” he said. “I mean, I was leading by three going in the final round a couple years ago and was leading the tournament by a few going into No. 11 the last, or a couple years ago and didn’t get it done. That’s a good learning experience, you know, and feel like I’ve gotten better as a player because of it.”
On Thursday, Henley made an eagle and six birdies and shot another opening-round 8-under 62 to take a one-stroke lead over Canadian Adam Svensson and South Korea’s Ben An and two better than fellow American Andrew Novak.
Henley, who played in the afternoon wave, benefited from better scoring conditions after a steady morning rain stopped.
“The first little bit of the front nine it was raining and felt like, man, this could be a tough day, especially if it picks up a little bit,” he said. “So just kind of hoping it would slow down a little bit. And it did on the back nine, so we were fortunate.”
Henley, the winner of the World Wide Technologies Championship in November, led the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green in the first round. His bogey-free 62 was his eighth score of 63 or better since the start of the 2020-21 season, tied for the most of any players on the Tour during that span with Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele. Henley opened with a round in the 60s for the seventh time in as many starts at Sedgefield and improved his first-round scoring average to 66.14. But Henley has never converted one of his hot starts into a victory — he’s 0-for-7 converting the first-round lead/co-lead to victory, including the 2021 Wyndham. Unfinished business, indeed.
Here are four more things to know from the first round of the Wyndham Championship.