Russell Henley did some of his most difficult work during Sunday’s final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge to get into a playoff.
Yet he still had to put aside his nerves to finish the task.
Henley birdied the first playoff hole with a putt from inside 5 feet to defeat Eric Cole and complete a comeback victory in Fort Worth, Texas.
“This is why I practice hard … to come back to the playoff and do that, I’m still just kind of shaking,” Henley said. “That was as nervous as I’ve been over a putt in my whole life.”
Henley shot 3-under-par 67 with birdies on the final three holes before beating Cole in the playoff. They were tied at 12-under 268.
Cole, who shot 70 in the fourth round, failed to convert a 13-foot putt for birdie before Henley sank the winning putt when the duo replayed the par-4 No. 18 at Colonial Country Club.
“The putt was good, I hit it pretty much where I was aiming, I just kind of misread it,” Cole said. “I thought it might start breaking left a little earlier.”
Henley, now a six-time winner on the PGA Tour, won for the first time since the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“I think the longer you play this game, the more you want, you want more success and I feel like I’ve just worked harder and harder and I feel like I’ve been a little off just mentally this year, really,” Henley said. “Just feel like I just fought really hard through the end, so it just felt really good to see an awesome result.”
Henley’s round began with an eagle on the par-5 first hole and a birdie on the next hole followed by three consecutive bogeys. He played Nos. 3-9 in 4 over before recovering. His tying birdie putt on No. 18 was from about 16 1/2 feet.
He recalled “feeling a little jittery” on the front side. Then that changed.
“I just kind of calmed down a little bit and started to hit some good shots, and felt like I was hitting good putts most of the day and they just went in at the end,” he said.
Cole, the third-round leader, was bidding for his first victory on the PGA Tour. He had birdies on the first two holes but didn’t maintain the momentum and was hurt by a double bogey at No. 9.
“I was proud with the way I played,” Cole said. “I think I played solid for the most part. I drove the ball pretty well. I just needed to shave a shot somewhere.”
Defending champion Ben Griffin (65), Mac Meisnner (69) and Alex Smalley (68) shared third place at 11 under.
Meissner, playing in the last pairing with Cole, needed a birdie on No. 18 to join the playoff. Instead, his second shot ended up in a bunker and he scrambled for par.
Griffin moved into second place by the midway mark of the round, catapulted by playing the front nine in 5 under. He was even par the rest of the way. Griffin’s 65 matched Steven Fisk for the best round of the day.
“I felt like I was going to make a nice run when I woke up this morning,” Griffin said. “My game was trending in the right direction. It’s a course I have experience on and I kind of know what you have to do on Sunday here.”
He nearly rolled in a 50-foot birdie putt on the last hole.
J.J. Spaun (70), Gary Woodland (67), Michael Brennan (68) and Colombia’s Nico Echavarria (68) all tied for sixth place at 10 under.
Brennan pulled into a share of the lead by mid-afternoon, but across his final seven holes, he had three bogeys and two birdies.
Woodland was happy to move into contention.
“I’m excited about where the game is at,” Woodland said. “I definitely didn’t get the most out of it this week, I played a lot better than what I scored, but happy with where it’s at.”
England’s Jordan Smith, who led at the tournament’s midway mark, finished at 8 under and tied for 13th place after a final-round 68.
–Field Level Media
