Henley known for competitive nature

Ask anyone – friends, teammates, coaches – to describe Russell Henley, and the same word comes up repeatedly: competitive.

“What you liked was his competitive spirit,” said Chris Haack, Henley’s college coach at the University of Georgia. “It’s also a little bit to his detriment because he becomes so much – not really a perfectionist, but he wants to compete every week, so it drives him crazy when he doesn’t.”

A bad round leaves the 25-year-old frustrated and determined to fix things immediately on the practice range. A good round leaves him eager to get back out the next day and improve.

After he made his first Masters Tournament cut, tying for 31st last year, Henley had a little bit of a chip on his shoulder because he wasn’t usually mentioned in conversations about the best young talent on tour.

“I feel like when they always talk about the guys 25 and under, they really don’t talk about me that much, which is OK,” he said. “I’m ranked 43rd in the world and I’ve won twice on the tour, played a bunch in the majors. Didn’t have that much success in them, but I do have that experience.

“I’m not asking for any press or anything – only thing I’m saying is, there’s a lot of really good players out here, and just because they’re not talking about them doesn’t mean they’re not here.”

Henley earned the right to feel a little left out. He introduced himself at the 2010 U.S. Open, taking low amateur while firing up the galleries at Pebble Beach with his effusive personality.

As a senior at Georgia in 2011, he became the second amateur to win a Nationwide Tour event on his collegiate home course.

As a Nationwide Tour rook­ie in 2012, he won twice in playoffs to secure his PGA Tour card. In his PGA Tour debut at the 2013 Sony Open, he didn’t flinch in a stretch duel with Tim Clark. A month before his second Masters start in 2014, he rallied and beat Rory McIlroy in a playoff at the Honda Classic.

Arguably, then, he has earned at least a casual mention in all the stories about the under-25 set.

“I’m a confident golfer, I’m getting more and more confident as I play out here in front of these guys, and it may be somewhat surprising to some people, but I feel like I’m right where I need to be,” he said.

His quick success on tour might have had mild drawbacks in the expectation level. The relative dry spells between highlights would send him searching for answers to questions that didn’t really exist.

“If that week he didn’t putt real well, he’s going to immediately overanalyze,” Haack said. “He’s gotten better with that. He got thrust into the spotlight so fast he had to absorb way too much stuff. He had to find his comfort zone.”

Henley’s competitive spirit isn’t limited to golf. He was an all-around athlete in high school in Macon, Ga., packing his clubs for the winter to play basketball before coming back in the spring to win state golf championships as a freshman, sophomore and junior.

Off the course, he’s into music, and he lists Kid Rock and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl as dream foursome partners.

“I think (music) puts my brain in a place where I can’t think about anything else,” he said.

During the Northern Trust Open in February, he even played electric guitar for three songs on stage with touring band O.A.R., including an encore.

“Everybody says, ‘Oh, you’re a rock star now,’ ” he said. “I’m a wannabe. I would love to play music but definitely not good enough.”

Golf, however, is something he’s good enough at to be considered among the new generation of stars.

“Hopefully, I can be in that conversation, and hopefully, I can keep contending and getting better every year,” he said. “If I can just feel like I get a little better every year, I feel like I might be one of those names.”

Fulfilling his bucket-list goal of winning the Masters in his home state would keep him from ever being overlooked again.

“I dream about it every day, winning (at Augusta),” he said. “I mean, I’ve dreamed about playing in this tournament. I’ve dreamed about winning on the PGA Tour, and I’ve accomplished both of those dreams. I’ve got a lot more on the list, but yeah, I dream about it every day.”