Russell Henley produced a late final-round charge to pip Collin Morikawa and win the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida.
The 35-year-old American, whose previous victory on the PGA TOUR came back in 2022, entered the final round at Bay Hill Club a shot behind Morikawa and found himself with work to do to overhaul his fellow American with five holes remaining after the gap increased to three. But Morikawa left the door ajar for Henley after he stumbled on the par-three 14th which Henley capitalized on with a birdie putt to leave himself just a shot behind the two-time major winner.
Henley then produced an impressive eagle chip on the par-five 16th that moved him ahead of Morikawa who went on to miss what would have been a crucial birdie putt. Henley concluded the event with back-to-back pars to card a 2-under 70 and close on 11 under which was enough for him to prevail over Morikawa and earn a fifth triumph on the PGA TOUR.
“Hats off to Collin, he played great, super-steady, but sometimes golf is just mean like that,” Henley said speaking afterwards to CBS.
“I was so nervous, so unbelievably nervous. I can’t breathe right now. It’s so hard and so difficult around this place.
“I just tried to stay really tough. I’ve watched Tiger [Woods] make a lot of putts on this green. I’ve watched Rory [McIlroy], Fran [Francesco Molinari] and Bryson [DeChambeau] make winning putts here, and it’s cool to know I did it too.”
Canada’s Corey Conners sealed a third place finish with America’s Michael Kim a shot adrift in fourth. Big names including World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and four-time major winner Rory McIlroy were unable to threaten the top of the leaderboard, finishing T11 and T15 respectively.
What is the next event?
The next event on the PGA TOUR schedule is THE PLAYERS Championship taking place between 13-16 March at TPC Sawgrass in Florida.