Henley in hunt at Nationwide event

Russell Henley’s experiences last month at Pebble Beach Golf Links paid off Friday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio.

The Macon native used his knowledge gained from playing in the conditions on the Pacific coast to successfully navigate Ohio State’s wind-tattered Scarlet Course and move into a tie for sixth place at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational.

In his second Nationwide Tour event and third professional event this year, Henley shot a 1-under-par 70 and is at 4 under for the tournament, two shots in back of leader Michael Putnam.

“The wind was blowing out there pretty hard, and it made it tough to judge shots,” Henley said by phone from Columbus. “The greens were dried out. Playing at Pebble Beach definitely helped. But I like it when par is a good score. I like the tough courses, and sometimes in those amateur events, you know 16, 18 under will win. I like this more.”

Henley actually pulled to within a shot of the lead early in his round with birdies on two of the first four holes of the day.

But a double-bogey on No. 5 erased those two gained strokes. Henley hit his tee shot on the par-3 hole into a bunker. He blasted the bunker shot over the green, chipped up and two-putted.

It was Henley’s first miscue after 22 straight holes of par or better.

“I was going to make a bogey, so I just moved past it,”¿he said.

Henley bogied No. 8, before recovering for birdies on Nos. 9 and 16.

Henley made a 25-foot putt on No. 18 to save par and avoid a costly bogey heading into the clubhouse.

“It was the longest putt I’ve made all week,” Henley said. “It felt pretty good when it went in.”

Henley received an invitation to the tournament after being named an All-American. He was one of 12 players to receive the invitation. Only three made the cut:UC Irvine’s John Chin and Oklahoma State’s Morgan Hoffman were the others. Henley and Hoffman are the only amateurs left because Chin turned professional prior to the event.

“There were a lot of great college players in the field,” Henley said. “A lot of friendly faces.”¿

The rising Georgia senior will tee off at 12:05 p.m. Saturday and will be paired with former Clemson standout Kyle Stanley.

Henley ranks in the top 15 in the field in putting, driving accuracy and greens in regulation.