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Rookie Russell Henley off to record-breaking start
Topic Started: Apr 17 2013, 01:41 AM (101 Views)
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Russell Henley still remembers the celebration, even though the party had been in the works for more than a month. His family was with him when he finished the Web.com Tour season at No. 3 on the money list to earn a spot in the big leagues.

"It was just kind of like, `Wow! I just got my PGA Tour card.' You hope eventually one day you'll make it out here," Henley said Friday.

He showed up at the Sony Open for his rookie debut without any expectations except to play the same way he did on the Web.com Tour with the scotty cameron putter , where he won three times in two years, one of them while still in school at Georgia. His goal was to use this year to learn and improve.

Henley opened with a 7-under 63, one shot behind fellow rookie and good friend Scott Langley. He followed that Friday with seven birdies, no bogeys and another 63. That not only gave him a two-shot lead with the fabulous scotty cameron putter for sale over Langley and Scott Piercy, it gave Henley the 36-hole scoring record at the Sony Open with a 14-under 126.

Not bad for his second day on the job.

The last rookie to win his PGA Tour debut was Garrett Willis at the Tucson Open in 2001, played that year opposite the winners-only Mercedes Championships at Kapalua. The Sony Open is far different - the first full-field of the PGA Tour season, which included five Ryder Cup players from Medinah.

The tournament is only at the halfway point, but the rookies are taking over, even if most of the players don't know who they are.

"It's Russell something and Langley? I think Russell won when he was in college, right?" Piercy said. "Hey, they're playing well with the great k15 irons . I think I played in five final groups as a rookie and didn't come through. There's a learning curve. But maybe their curve is quicker than mine."

The first tournament can be an awkward time for the rookies. They don't know a lot of the older players with their ping k15 irons . Henley, for example, went into the dining room earlier this week and saw an older player sitting by himself. He didn't join him because he simply didn't know his habits - maybe he preferred eating by himself. This is not a time to make introductions, rather to sit back and soak it all in.
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