Garnett, Hensby enjoy strong first round in Rust-Oleum Championship
The Rust-Oleum Championship on golf's Web.com Tour is a relatively new event in the Chicago area, having been played only once previously at Ivanhoe Club.
Thursday's first round of its second staging here provided a walk down memory lane, however.
Mark Hensby, who won three big tournaments in Illinois way back when, charged into contention by firing a 6-under-par 66. That left him 1 stroke behind leader Brice Garnett entering Friday's second round.
Hensby, who turns 46 later this month, won the Illinois State Amateur back in 1994 and turned professional the next year. In 1996 he won the Illinois Open, and in 2004 he claimed his lone PGA Tour title at the John Deere Classic, which helped him land a spot on the World team for the President's Cup matches a year later.
Now, though, he's relegated to only conditional status on the PGA's satellite circuit. The Web.com is filled with former PGA members trying to either get back on the big-money circuit or prepare for the Champions Tour or promising young players with dreams of competing at the highest level.
Hensby isn't sure where he fits into that mix.
"I don't think I'll ever get back to where I was," he said, "but it'd be ice to get back on tour again. It's just that it's harder now."
With the exception of the beard he's now sporting, Hensby looks as fit as he did when he was a PGA Tour winner.
"I do try to stay in shape," he said. "After all, the Senior (Champions) Tour isn't that far away."
But he isn't sure the 50-and-over circuit is in his future, either.
Back in his heyday, Hensby added three Web.com Tour wins to his John Deere Classic title, but those were all between 1998 and 2003. He had to return to qualifying school last year to get into the first four events of this season.
"My play hasn't been good," he said. "I made the cut in two of them in South America, but since then I've had a tough stretch the last three out. That's not surprising when you haven't done this for a while."
Hensby's best finish this season was a tie for 25th in Colombia in February, and he made his only other cut the next week with a tie for 52nd in Panama. In his next three tournaments Hensby either withdrew or missed the cut.
He stands 134th on the Web.com season money list with earnings of $7,251, but now at least he's back on his home turf.
Born in Australia, Hensby's golf game took off after he moved to Chicago in the early 1990s. He now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, while trying to get into tournaments.
The $600,000 Rust-Oleum Championship is the start of a three-tournament stretch that includes stops in Wichita, Kansas, and Springfield. While he has played in the John Deere Classic several times off his past champions' status and sponsor exemptions, he doesn't plan to return to TPC Deere Run for this year's July tournament.
"Clair Peterson (the tournament director) has been great. He gave me spots when I probably didn't deserve them," Hensby said, "but I'm not going to ask for one now. I've got to play my way back."
Garnett is trying to play his way back to the PGA Tour as well, but he only lost his playing privileges last year. He had his PGA Tour card the previous three years and took some big steps toward regaining his game this week.
On Monday he qualified for next week's U.S. Open at Wisconsin's Erin Hills.
"That gave me extra confidence going into this week," he said, "and this is a beautiful golf course that fits my game well."
In the first group off the No. 1 tee, Garnett reached 9-under for the day when he rolled in an 8-foot eagle putt at No. 15. Garnett gave 2 shots back two holes later, though, when - after enduring a 20-minute delay in play - he put his tee shot over the green on the par-3 and into the woods.
Still, Garnett's 65 matched the low round at last year's Rust-Oleum Championship, posted by Austin Cook, and was 1 stroke off the course record set by host professional Jim Sobb.