FORT WORTH, Texas — Russell Henry went from being within the tough and simply avoiding over par within the ultimate spherical of the Charles Schwab Problem to profitable the event.
After saving par on Sunday’s fifteenth gap to remain three pictures behind the chief, Henry made 4 straight birdies. He completed regulation with three pictures in a row to arrange a playoff in opposition to Eric Cole, then hit a 5-footer on the primary further gap to win his fourth.
“I am nonetheless type of confused,” Henry stated after ending with a 3-under 67 for his sixth PGA Tour win. “I can not consider I am sitting right here.”
Henry’s late surge derailed Cole, additionally 37, from profitable his first PGA Tour victory, however Ben Griffin got here shut that day, turning into the one participant apart from Ben Hogan to win consecutive tournaments at Colonial.
Henry, who was enjoying within the group forward of Cole, sank 15-foot putts on the 171-yard sixteenth gap and the par-4 seventeenth gap. He hit a 17-footer on the par-4 18th gap to make it 12 underneath.
Cole shot an even-par 70, making par on his ultimate seven holes (eight together with the playoff).
Griffin (65), Alex Smalley (68) and Mac Misner (69) completed with 11-under 269 at Hogan’s Alley.
Henry, whose finest end this 12 months was a tie for third on the Masters, gained $1.78 million for his plaid jacket and customised 1982 Jeep Scrambler.
“I have been enjoying very well the final three, 4 years, perhaps even higher, and I really feel like despite the fact that I have been enjoying nicely, I nonetheless hold coming again to the belief that it’s totally troublesome,” Henry stated. “So to win right here and to play nicely constantly takes all the things out of me. … It takes some psychological ache as nicely. So each time I cross the objective line and get a win, it is actually particular.”
Henry and Cole performed the 18th once more on the additional gap, and their drives stopped within the fairway. Cole made an enormous break when the ball in some way bounced off the left tough and landed on the sting of the quick grass. Henry then hit a wedge shot to first and Cole hit his shot to 13 ft earlier than lacking the birdie.
Cole, making his a hundred and twentieth begin on the PGA Tour since his debut in 2021, stayed within the authorized lead within the ultimate spherical, even when he completed the entrance 9 together with his first double bogey (or extra) in 316 holes. After taking a wayward drive on the 398-yard ninth and approaching the water in entrance of the inexperienced, his lengthy bogey probability stopped in need of the cup.
His solely birdie on the again was the 628-yard eleventh, however he had some vital par savers within the second half. He made an up-and-down from a fairway bunker on the 443-yard twelfth gap, missed a putt to inside 5 ft after his tee shot on the par-3 sixteenth inexperienced was nonetheless 47 ft from the cup, and quick chipped his ultimate putt after his strategy on the 18th gap bounced awkwardly into the tough and was 15 ft away.
“I used to be pleased with the best way I performed. I feel I performed constantly for probably the most half. … I simply wanted to hit some pictures someplace,” stated Cole, who shot a 63 on Saturday to start out the day with a two-shot lead. “It is disappointing, however I am nonetheless pleased with my play and really feel good.”
Henry began the day with an eagle birdie, however rapidly returned all three of his pictures with bogeys on Nos. 3 by way of 5, the aptly named Colonial’s dreaded horseshoe. He additionally suffered a bogey on the ninth gap and completed at 8 underneath.
“It was a bizarre begin to the day, however I simply saved preventing,” Henry stated.
Griffin began his third straight spherical with a 68, began six pictures behind and had 5 birdies on the entrance 9. However he was one shot away from hitting a 25-footer on the seventeenth gap to succeed in 11 underneath. He was only one stroke behind Cole, who was six holes behind. Griffin had an extended birdie alternative with a curl excessive of the cup on No. 16, then hit a 50-foot shot on No. 18.
“The way in which it rolls towards the cup is fairly cool,” Griffin stated. “It nearly resulted in a extremely dramatic manner.”
A five-time champion, Hogan gained the primary two Colonials championships in historical past in 1946 and 1947, adopted by back-to-back titles in 1952 and 1953, and his final victory in 1959.
