Henning, Floyd Are Nervous Leaders

So, Harold Henning, you’re tied for the first-round lead at the Ralphs Senior Classic, don’t you feel really swell right now?

Not exactly.

“My game has been horrible, absolutely embarrassing,� he said. “I’ve tried everything except putting the golf club where it doesn’t belong.�

And Raymond Floyd, you matched Henning’s five-under-par 66 Friday at Wilshire, you’ve got to like your chances come Sunday.

Not exactly.

“I’ve had terrible finishes on Sunday,� Floyd said. “It’s a mental problem.�

And so it went on opening day, when play was delayed for 20 minutes because of fog, then a couple of guys who talk as though they’ve been playing in it for a while went out and took part of the lead.

Is this what most people expected? Not exactly.

Henning and Floyd, plus non-winner Bunky Henry and big winner Jim Colbert have a one-shot lead over a couple of golf carts full of players who are at four under par.

It’s a crowded group that includes Chi Chi Rodriguez, Frank Conner, Larry Gilbert, Rocky Thompson, Graham Marsh and Dick Rhyan.

Colbert, who has won four tournaments and more than $1.25 million this year, birdied three of the last five holes, long after he got used to the putting surfaces.

Colbert’s problem was being thrown off by the speed of the practice putting green, which was faster than the greens on the course. It was really fast, he said.

“That putting green is Mach II now,� said Colbert, who left a 40-foot putt 12 feet short on the first hole.

However, he adapted quickly, and so did Henning, who had a different problem. Henning was thrown off his game by playing well.

With one top-10 finish in 27 events, Henning is conditioned against expecting anything good from his golf.

“Only poor rounds,� he said. “It’s no fun when you’re chopping around. That’s what I’ve been doing. Chopping. You certainly can’t call it playing.�

Henning hasn’t won in five years, so he was nothing short of stunned with his seven-birdie, two-bogey first round.

“I had to check my scorecard again,� he said. “I thought I must have left out a hole.

“My game has been disappointment waiting to happen. Hopefully it might not happen for the next couple of days.�

Floyd’s disappointments have been confined largely to one day, Sunday, which is not the one you would choose. In his last four tournaments, Floyd has finished with 75, 73, 73 and 73, and that does not make him happy.

“I know when I am in contention, I’m so focused, so into what I am doing, but now the focus is gone and I’m thinking 100 different things on the golf course,� Floyd said.

It didn’t seem to matter much to Floyd in the early going, not after he birdied the first four holes and six of the first seven. But he three-putted the eighth and 10th for bogey and missed three makable birdie putts coming in.

Floyd was encouraged nonetheless, even though this focus issue still bothers him.

“When I was younger, you didn’t have a lot of chances to win, so you were totally committed,� he said. “Let’s face it. I’m 54 and even if I win the next four or five in a row, what does it mean? I’m still Raymond Floyd. My reputation is already set.

“Golf is something where I have to really, really, really drive myself now. That’s the mental part.�

The physical part got to Lee Trevino, who withdrew after finishing with a 72, citing a bad back.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez showed the right way to finish and Arnold Palmer showed the opposite.

Rodriguez birdied the 16th and the 17th, then eagled the par-four 18th when he holed out from 180 yards. Of course, that sent Rodriguez into his familiar routine in which he pretends his putter is a sword and he duels with the air.

If that was Air Chi Chi, then there also was Ground Arnie.

On his last seven holes, Palmer went bogey, bogey, bogey, par, double bogey, birdie and double bogey on his way to a 77.

Palmer called a one-shot penalty on himself when the ball moved as he stood over it and he wound up taking a seven on the par-five 16th.