Orlando, Fla. – Russell Henley posted a late charge that would make Arnold Palmer proud, having held the Eagle game on the 16th hole on Bay Hill on Sunday, the biggest win of his career.
Henley hit Collin Morikawa with five holes in Arnold Palmer’s invitational, all of which changed with two swings.
Morikawa missed the 14th-hole green on the 3rd stroke and took the bogey while Henley hit his serve with a birdie of only 10 feet, cutting the deficit by one shot. But nothing is more amazing than the 16th hole on the 5th.
Morikawa lay down from a fairway bunker and hit a wedge to 18 feet. Henley went through the green to become thick and dense, and had to go from 50 feet above the hillside to the green front pins, which looked like there was almost no grass.
When Morikava failed to convert his birdie putt, it was running into the hole as it drove into the pin and fell into the eagle.
Henley finished with two pars and Morikawa ended with a 72-shot and they couldn’t catch him.
“I’m so nervous. I can’t breathe right now,” Henry told NBC on the 18th green green. “It’s so tough in this place. I’m just trying to keep it tough this week.”
He makes himself hard sometimes, especially when he messes up 5-5 on the front nine, gets the bogey to each of them and starts the back nine with a bogey on the fairway.
But the 35-year-old from Georgia made up for that, especially Eagle’s chips, which he calls a good break. If you don’t run from the green, the ball may run about 10 feet in the hole. Such a break is the reason for winning the game.
“This game is really hard,” he said.
It was another close call to Morikawa, a two-time major champion who has returned to the game and is now missing only one trophy that he has not taken off in 17 months.
He first shot the bunker shot for the birdie in the first hole. In a cruel test of fast, firm conditions, he was in control and lead all day.
And then suddenly he wasn’t.
“Playing to Colin. He’s super stable,” Henry said. “Sometimes golf is that mean.”
Corey Conners opened 15 straight shots, birdied in his 71 rounds and was two shots behind. The Canadian’s Consolation Award will receive a seat at the British Open this summer at Royal Prothush.
Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley set a tournament record with 29 in the first nine games, only stagnating and matching the game – a low of 64 and tied for fifth place.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler didn’t have enough putters or enough birdies in a week. He finished 11th with a score of 70. Scheffler is now heading for two hours on his way to TPC Sawgrass, becoming the two-time defending champion of the player’s title.
Henley finished with 11 277 and received $4 million from his $20 million wallet. This is his fifth professional victory on the PGA Tour, although others have never opposed such a strong territory. His game has been consistent over the past three years, not just about completing tasks.
The victory made him seventh in the world and he looked like part of the top ten players.
