In his first tournament in more than a month, 2013 Sony Open in Hawaii champion Russell Henley is in familiar territory.
The 27-year-old matched his lowest first-round score in a full-field PGA Tour event since four years ago, when he shot the first of three 63s in four days to record one of his two PGA victories.
Henley fired a bogey-free 6-under 64 to get on the first page of the leaderboard heading into today’s second round.
“Got into a rhythm on the back and hit some really good drives that put me in position to attack the course,” Henley said.
The Georgia native is coming off an up-and-down 2015-16 season in which he had four top-10 finishes but missed 12 cuts, including five in a row and eight out of 11.
He’s coming off two top-15 finishes in his past three events, including a 10th at The RSM Classic in November, but hasn’t played on tour since.
“I try to play as many matches with buddies back home to get that feel and as much as I can, but there’s nothing that matches playing in a tour event to me,” Henley said. “It’s a process. It is an uncomfortable feeling, honestly, when you haven’t played in a while.”
Henley showed little rust and credited his familiarity with the course. Waialae is a course he expects to contend at every year.
“I like that it’s not a super long course, but you have to be precise when you hit it,” said Henley, who hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation. “You’ve got to be more precise off the tees here and I think that’s just what makes it fun. It’s more placement golf, and I enjoy that.”
Vijay Singh was next among the 10 past champions in the field with a 65, followed by Ryan Palmer’s 66.
Defending champion Fabian Gomez finished at 1 under while Jimmy Walker’s quest to become the event’s first three-time winner got off to a rough start. He bogeyed his first four holes and finished at 1-over 71.
Matsuyama opens with 66
Hideki Matsuyama, the world’s sixth-ranked player with two wins and two runner-up finishes in five starts this season, matched his best round at Waialae on Thursday.
After finishing second to Justin Thomas in the SBS Tournament of Champions on Maui last weekend, Matsuyama shot a 32 on the front and finished at 4-under 66 and in a tie for 21st. He shot a 66 in the second round last year, but didn’t make it to Sunday in four previous Sony appearances.
