Henley Heads into Monday with Lead in Deutsche Bank Championship; McIlroy Two Back


Russell Henley enters the final round atop the leaderboard of the $8 million Deutsche Bank Championship, the second of four events in the PGA Tour's season-ending FedEx Cup Playoffs.

The 25-year-old Georgian, who opened with rounds of 70 and 66, fired a 6-under 66 to reach 12-under 201, a stroke ahead of fellow American Billy Horschel, who shot 67.

Henley, a two-time Tour winner whose most recent title came in March's Honda Classic, posted six birdies and a bogey in the tournament that will have a rare Monday finish.

Two behind Henley are Chris Kirk and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy - who each matched Sunday's low third round of 7-under 64, and Australian Jason Day (69), who started the day sharing the lead with Ryan Palmer.

Henley has an eye on McIlroy; the 25-year-old Northern Irishman won two of golf's four Grand Slam events this year and came into the Playoffs as the hottest golfer on the planet "He's obviously a tough guy to beat," Henley said. "But . . . there's a lot of tough guys to beat. Rory has had a heck of a run and I'm sure he'll continue that."

McIlroy, the top-ranked player in the world and Deutsche Bank champion in 2012, enjoyed a spotless, seven-birdie outing to rise into contention. "It was just another solid day's golf and obviously sets me up nicely for tomorrow," he said after his round. "Most of the back nine, I didn't need to hole anything of significant length."

Day could have ended up sharing the lead with Henley but bogeyed the 14th and 15th holes and parred in from there.

Three behind Henley is Webb Simpson (68), while trailing by four are Kevin Streelman (65), Seung-Yul Noh (68), Keegan Bradley (69) and Palmer, who posted an even-par 71.

Tied for 11th at 7-under 206 are Aussie Geoff Ogilvy (65), Chesson Hadley (67), Rickie Fowler (67), Jordan Spieth (69) and Bill Haas (70). Haas won the 2011 FedEx Cup.

John Senden (67), Robert Streb (67), Jim Furyk (69), reigning U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer (70) and Ben Crane (70) share 16th at 207.

Defending Deutsche Bank and 2013 FedEx Cup champion Henrik Stenson shot a 73 and is now at even-par 213.

Seven players didn't make the 54-hole, secondary cut of 4-over 217, and all of their scores were high. The group included Brendon de Jonge, who closed with a 74, Patrick Reed (82), Andres Romero (74), Scott Brown (77), Matt Jones (79), Freddie Jacobson (80) and Matt Every (80).

Reed, who opened with two 68s and was near the top of the leaderboard entering the third round, had three bogeys, four doubles and not one birdie on his card.

Despite a third-round 74, Hunter Mahan - winner of last week's The Barclays who came into Boston as the Playoffs' points leader - made the secondary cut right on the number and will play on Monday.

For all the scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html.