Little wind and short rough make Waialae play easy

Russell Henley peered out the window as darkness descended on the nearby beach. As has been the case most of the past three days, not one leaf on one tree stirred.

"How about this weather? I thought it was gonna blow like 40 all week," marveled the 23-year-old co-leader at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

He’s tied with his buddy and fellow rookie, Scott Langley, heading into today’s final round. They are at 17-under par after 54 holes. To put that in perspective, Johnson Wagner won the 2012 tournament by shooting 13 under in four rounds, and the tournament record since the event went to par 70 is 20 under.

The benign conditions aren’t the only reason these kids are more than all right.

They weren’t the only ones to benefit, certainly. The entire leaderboard was full of players in double-digit red numbers midway through the third round.

Both said they were prepared for the wind. When it didn’t come … well, blessings from above.

"We played (practice rounds) here Sunday and Monday and it was really windy," Langley said, "and it was really hard. I haven’t been to Hawaii that much, but … if it’s windy, golf courses play really hard. If not, you can kind of get it a little better because most courses are designed for the wind."

Henley said it was so bad last Sunday that his ball rolled off the green while he was putting.

"To go from that to lighter and lighter every day definitely gets your confidence going, because I knew I was playing the course pretty good when the wind was blowing pretty hard … So it definitely made it feel easier."

When you don’t hit the fairway, the result is supposed to be somewhere between punitive and unforgiving, right?

But the rough isn’t so rough at Waialae this week. Usually it’s 31⁄2 inches deep when the tour comes to town. But this year, by the direction of the PGA, it’s just 2 inches.

There are mixed reviews on whether this is affecting scoring.

Dean Wilson, who is at 4 under after a 69 on Saturday, likes it.

"Any time you hit it in the rough and it just buries to the bottom and you just hack it out, it takes all the shot-making out of everybody’s hands. So having it this length, I really like it. We have guys driving it in the rough, but you can still hit some shots, but you can still get in trouble."

Henley said rough that ain’t so tough helped him get off to a good start.

"Every time I hit it in the rough the first day, I was able to hit it out toward the green. Once I did that — I think I did that twice in the first six holes or so — that gave me a little bit of confidence knowing I didn’t have to be so perfect because a lot of times it feels like you do on this stage … loosened me up a little bit for sure."

Things get tighter for the rooks today as impossible dreams become closer to reality with each shot. Benign conditions or not.

"You know, they’re good players, doing good things," said Charles Howell III, one of the veterans in range. "I wish golf was that simple to think of it that way."

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783.