Henley Continues His Bid Towards NH Mid-Amateur Victory, Leads Field Heading to Final Round
Rochester, NH – As the New Hampshire Mid-Amateur Championship continues at Rochester Country Club, so does Rob Henley’s bid towards a victory this season. As the championship season winds down, this is Henley’s last chance at a win and he is making a good run at it. After a first round 69 (-3) to get himself in a tie for the lead with Jim Cilley, Henley went out and fired a two-under par, 70 to now sit in solo first place with a two-shot cushion over Cilley who is now in second place. With 36 holes behind them, the New Hampshire Mid-Amateur field has been cut to the low 40 golfers and ties for the final round.
“I got off to a little bit of a slow start”, stated Henley after his second round. “I was hitting good shots but wasn’t making any putts.”
A slow start for Henley means he made four consecutive pars before rolling in his first birdie of the day on the par-4, 5th hole at Rochester. As his lone birdie on the front nine which was accompanied by eight pars, Henley made the turn at one-under par. Joining him at one-under par after nine holes was Jim Cilley who did so with one bogey and two birdies on the front nine.
Henley seemed to turn on the jets as he headed to the back nine, making birdies on the 10th and 11th holes to get himself to three-under par, where he finished his round the day before. He was even able to get himself to four-under par on the day with another birdie on the 15th hole but with two unfortunate bogeys on 16 and 17, including a three-putt on 17, Henley was back to just two-under for the day. With another attempt at birdie on the 18th, he settled for a 70 (-2) which got him to five-under par for the tournament.
Cilley’s back nine was not what he had hoped for as he had more bogeys than birdies, which set him back from Henley. He bogeyed the 14th and 17th holes and rolled in a birdie on the 15th to play the back nine at one-over par, ending with a 72 (Even) for the day. With that, Cilley sits two shots back of Henley with 18 holes left to play.
With two second place finishes this year, Henley would love to end the 2023 season with a victory. He said, “I’m just hoping to play well as I did today and hopefully make some putts, keep it in play and see what happens.”
Defending champion, James Pleat is now four shots back of Henley after a second round 73 (+1). He is at one-under par for the tournament and joined there by Brett Wilson who shot 70 (-2) in his second round to jump into red numbers for the tournament.
Wilson did not get off to a strong start in his second round of the New Hampshire Mid-Amateur, carding double bogey on the 1st hole at Rochester. However, he was able to bounce back strong, making three birdies on the front side to make the turn at one-under par. He birdied the 10th and 15th holes to get himself to three-under par, but a bogey on the 16th hole kept his score to two-under for the day. He is now one-under par for the tournament and four shots back of Henley.
With 18 holes left in the championship, 42 golfers shooting +16 or better over the first 36 holes have made the cut to the final round. Henley and Cilley are both looking to capture their first New Hampshire Mid-Amateur titles, with past champions Pleat and Wilson sitting right behind them on the leaderboard.
NH Mid-Amateur | Leaderboard