State natives James, Henry making plenty of memories
CROMWELL — The ultimate dream of any male golfer growing up is to reach the PGA Tour.
Ben James is still a few years away from achieving that dream but, at least for a few days, the Milford resident is getting a taste of what life is like on tour.
James shot a 2-over-par 72 In the opening round at TPC River Highlands, site of the Travelers Championship. He was 1-under on the back nine. James, who just graduated from Hamden Hall Country Day, was given a sponsor's exemption by Travelers to play in the championship.
“That was the coolest thing I've ever done by far. Just to be out here was so special. It exceeded my expectations. I was more nervous than I thought and kind of got off to a rocky start, but I was really happy with my back nine. Played a really good back nine. Got a lot of momentum for that going into tomorrow,” James said.
Another state resident, Fairfield native J.J. Henry, shot an even-par 70. He had his son, Connor, caddying for him. Connor, like Ben, is a recent high school graduate.
“He (Connor) did a great job. We got off to kind of a rough start. We were 3-over through about 10 holes and we made three birdies coming in to feel a little bit better,” J.J. Henry said.
Henry is now 47. He won this tournament — his first PGA Tour victory — in 2006 when it was known as the Buick Championship. Travelers took over title sponsorship the next year.
Henry has played in it every year. He has received a sponsor's exemption each of the last two years now
that he plays sparingly on tour.
“I played first here as an amateur in 1998 and ironically my dad caddied for me,” Henry said. “Here I am 24 years later still kind of hanging on playing, obviously winning the tournament here in 2006 and being from the state kind of carrying the flag, if you will, for the last two decades. So to have my son now caddying for me is something — talk about life coming full circle, it's special.”
Connor is heading to play at the University of Oklahoma in the fall. James will play at Virginia.
James, 19, earned that sponsor's exemption based on his stellar junior play. He rose to No. 1 in the national junior rankings this year. He missed a 10-footer for birdie in a playoff to qualify for the U.S. Open.
The next morning, James received a call from Travelers tournament director Nathan Grube to get the good news.
“Again, can't thank Nathan (Grube, tournament director for Travelers
Championship) and Andy (Bessette, executive vice president and chief administrative officer) enough for having me out here,” James said. “This was, again, once in a lifetime opportunity. I'm so thankful to be here because that was so cool. That was awesome.”
James had a lively crowd on the first tee Thursday. He was in the last group of the day off that hole at 2 p.m. Thanks to that back nine, he fared better than former Masters champion Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Joaquin Niemann among several others.
“Once I got settled in, it helped a ton. It was awesome seeing teachers, friends, family. It was so cool,” James said.
Both James and Henry will need to shoot under par on Friday to make the cut. But for both golfers, on different ends of the playing careers — they both have already made memories for a lifetime this week.