It’s a wonder that Harris English and Russell Henley got any work at all done on the golf course. Everywhere they went, a mixer was taking place outside the ropes just behind them.
Georgia golf coach Chris Haack and his longtime assistant Jim Douglas followed the players’ every step around Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday. Also along for the stroll were Douglas’ two sons, James and Charles (who everybody calls “Crow”), Haack’s wife, Tori, their daughter, Katie, a freshman at UGA, and a bunch of her Alpha Delta Pi sisters.
Every hole was like a Bulldogs reunion as they ran into more folks they knew. They talked and laughed and told stories until it grew so loud someone finally had to “shush” them.
Meanwhile, inside the ropes, the two former Bulldogs players scraped and clawed for every stroke they could find.
“It was cool,” said Henley, who shot a 73 with the unintentional entourage in tow. “It didn’t quite feel like it was real. I’m playing at Augusta, playing with Harris, and we’ve got our coaches hollering at us. It was kind of like a dream, but it was a lot of fun. I wish it was like that every week.”
English and Henley were two of four Bulldogs playing in this year’s tournament. They played together for four years in Athens (2007-11). Chris Kirk (2003-07) and Bubba Watson (2000-01) also played there.
Haack originally didn’t plan to come to Augusta until Sunday. But when the Masters competition committee paired Henley and English in the first round, he couldn’t resist coming to watch.
“Kind of like old times,” said Haack, wearing a black, wide-brim Georgia hat and red-and-black, school-issued duds from head to toe.
Watson, the 2012 Masters champion, was low Bulldog as usual. He shot a 3-under-par 69 in Thursday’s first round. Kirk, making his Masters debut at age 28, bogeyed the 17th and 18th holes to shoot 75. English and Henley were both 1 over before English bogeyed the 18th hole to fall one back.
There was no special “action” wagered between the Bulldogs. Actually they barely saw each other this week as they prepared for the tournament.
“Harris and I are very close, but I hadn’t seen him all week until we were in the locker room getting ready to go out,” Kirk said. “I’m like, ‘how ya been? Nice to see ya.’ Everybody’s just trying to get their work done during the week here.”
Henley and English were grinding Thursday. English hit his tee shot into Rae’s Creek on the par-3 12th hole to balloon to 3 over, but rallied with birdies on 15 and 17, the latter coming on a snaky putt from 25 feet.
“I started off not hitting it very good, scrambling around on the front nine and even on the back nine,” English said. “My chipping and putting really saved me today, and I’ve been working hard on it. I could’ve easily shot 5 or 6 over.”
Henley hit his approach shot on the par-4, No. 7 25 yards over the green, and his chip went past the flag and nearly ended up in the front bunker. But after leaving his first putt eight feet short, he made the putt to salvage bogey. He also executed a par save off a strong chip on 18.
“To come up with a par there, I felt relieved,” Henley said.
The Bulldogs feel as if they have a leg up on the competition here. They play the course every year while in college. The coaches bring the entire team every January. Haack recalls Jeremy Parrott once shooting a 66. Current sophomore Lee McCoy carded a 69 earlier this year.
The experience can make a difference if they ever get a chance to play the Masters.
“I remember the first time I came here playing No. 13. I hit a really good drive and sort of slung it around the corner and had a 6-iron in for my second shot,” Kirk said. “Standing over my shot I remember looking up at that green, a green I’d grown up watching my whole life. It’s sort of distracting at first seeing that. Now I’ve played it enough. I’m over the shock-and-awe of the first few times I came out here.”
About the Author
