ESPN.com - Golf Online - Relaxed Henninger sets Western Open pace

Associated Press
Friday, July 7

LEMONT, Ill. -- Brian Henninger knows he's not like Tiger Woods. He doesn't have the booming drives or those awe-inspiring shots that can humble everyone else on the course.

But when he's relaxed, he can swing with the best of them.


	Fred Couples had five birdies to get within two shots of the lead.

"I can't blow the course away. I can't hit it far enough to bring it to its knees. I have to do everything right, like I did today," he said after tying the Western Open record with a 9-under 63 and taking a one-stroke lead at 11-under 133.

Henninger was the third player to tie the record in the first two rounds of this year's Western Open. Stephen Ames did it earlier Friday, and Nick Price did it Thursday.

Franklin Langham, who took a month off after tying for second in the Kemper Open, was one stroke behind Henninger after shooting a 65. Ames, Price, Fred Couples, Stuart Appleby and Steve Flesch were two strokes back at 9-under 135.

"I needed a break," Langham said of his layoff. "I played six weeks in a row up until then and I kind of ran out of gas. I feel really good. I feel fresh and ready to go."

Woods said the same thing after taking two weeks off after his amazing, 15-stroke victory in the U.S. Open, but he continued to struggle with his putter. After missing more makable putts in one day than he did the entire week at Pebble Beach, he's six strokes back at 139 after rounds of 70 and 69.

"I just need to go out there and play a good solid weekend," Woods said before heading to the putting green. "Hopefully I can get myself back in this tournament."

It wasn't long ago that Henninger was hoping just to make it to the weekend at a tournament. He missed four straight cuts early in the season, and then missed another four heading into the U.S. Open.

Finally, after shooting a 77 in the opening round at Pebble Beach, he decided he needed to make a change.

"Missing cuts by a shot every week was telling me something was wrong," he said. "It was all stress-related."

So Henninger sat down with Dr. Richard Coop, a sports psychologist. They decided Henninger was just too tense, so worried about hitting the ball he was holding his clubs in a death grip. Relax, Coop said.

Not exactly an easy prescription, but Henninger tried it. He still missed the cut in the U.S. Open, but he shot a 73. He played better last weekend, tying for 48th in Hartford.

Finally, this week, everything clicked.

"Yesterday, I really hit the ball well," he said. "I knew if I could get the putts to drop, and they started to drop today."

He hit 15 of 18 greens Friday, and made a couple of putts from 20-plus feet. But with so many players hovering at 9-under, Henninger knew he needed something special to take the lead.

So with 211 yards to go on the par-5 15th, he pulled out his 3-iron.

"I cannot hit a 3-iron usually that far," he said, smiling at the memory. "And I jacked this one big-time up in the air."

The ball landed about 6 feet from the pin and Henninger holed it for an eagle to reach 10-under.

He picked up another stroke and tied the course record with a birdie on the par-4 16th. He knew he could get the record all to himself with another birdie, but his 5-foot putt lipped out on No. 17 and his 25-foot putt rolled around the edge of the cup on the 18th.

No big deal, Henninger said.

"There's so much golf to go," he said. "If I continue to hit it good, I think I'll do pretty good. But there are some world-class golfers out there."

Like Woods, for one.

"He's just incredible," Henninger said. "He can throw a round in like I did the next two days, and he's right there and he's scaring the pants off everybody like he usually does."

Divots

Starting off the back nine, Price's round fell apart on the 16th with two straight bogeys. He missed a 3-foot par putt on the 16th and a 10-footer stopped about a half-inch from the hole on No. 17.

Attendance on Friday was 42,336 -- more than 4,000 people more than last year. The number is even more impressive because the Crosstown Series between the White Sox and Cubs began Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field.

The three 63s so far this year is a record of its own. Only three players -- Jeff Sluman, John Adams and Dudley Hart -- had shot 63 since the tournament moved to Cog Hill in 1991, and they did it in different years.