Henley was maybe more nervous than ever before on Sunday, but didn’t show it in clinching the Arnold Palmer Invitational
By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com
Winning? A great thing.
Being surrounded by family? A greater thing.
Russell Henley had a beyond-great Sunday.
Henley has had his share of struggles trying to close the deal in final rounds, but he steadied after some early hiccups and finished strong – including a late eagle – to overtake and hold off Collin Morikawa to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
A minute after draining a par putt of a little more than three feet, Henley went from winning golfer to daddy as children Robert, Ruth, and Jane raced to give him a hug, followed by wife Teil.
“She puts steel in my spine,” Henley said in the TV interview after the hugs. “She’s tough on me when she needs to be, and (is) super supportive. She’s out here on a different house a lot of weeks and just trying to entertain these kids.”
He did some serious entertaining on Sunday.
Henley fell behind a bit after bogeys on No. 4 and 6 and then on 10. But then Morikawa was off-target on 14th and bogeyed while Henley birdied to get within one.
Morikawa’s wedge on 16 got to within 20 feet, while Henley was in thick rough. But his chip was perfect, speeding to the hole and bouncing off the flagstick to drop in for an eagle, Henley’s second of the tournament.
Morikawa had to settle for a par, and Henley had his first lead of the day.
With stunning chip-in, Russell Henley rallies past Collin Morikawa to win Arnold Palmer Invitational
At 35, Henley continues to age like fine wine
Why Henley was in shock after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitationa
NBC getting crushed for coming back late from commercial during Russell Henley’s eagle chip-in
This time, Henley stayed the course and calmly finished, his face as always giving no hints of positive or negative.
That changed a little bit afterward, though.
“I was just so nervous,” he said in the TV interview. “I can't breathe right now.”
No doubt. Henley’s fifth PGA Tour win was his biggest in a few ways. First, there’s the winner’s check of $4 million, making up 10.6 percent of his career winnings of $37,473,215.
And it came against the strongest field, including top-25 FedExCup players Morikawa, Michael Kim, Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry, Scottie Scheffler, Daniel Berger, Rory McIlroy, Sungjae Im, and Ludvig Aberg, and Hideki Matsuyama, among others.
Henley has made all six cuts so far this year and has been 11 under or better in five of them, with four top-10 finishes. He had 10 top-10 finishes since the start of last year, the most on tour in that span without a win.
Henley could certainly empathize with Morikawa, some semblance of control suddenly disappearing.
"Hats off to Collin. He played super steady," Henley said. "Sometimes golf is just mean like that."
Henley won’t have too much time to celebrate, with the Players Championship next at TPC Sawgrass, the final signature event before next month’s Masters. After finishing tied for fourth in last year’s Arnold Palmer, Henley failed to make the cut at the Players Championship after a pair of 73s.
But it’ll be hard not to enjoy it for a little bit.
He was three shots behind midway through the back nine, and then he came up with the clutch eagle when Morikawa settled for par to lose the lead. Henley was steely-faced as he closed the door.
“I've grown up watching this event and just seeing all the amazing finishes coming down the stretch, and you never really think you're going to get that opportunity to come down the 18th and make a par to win,” he said. “It's really just hard to take in right now. It's a tremendous honor, and that's what's so cool about this game, is to go play where all the legends have played.”
Phil Mickelson long had the rep of the best player not to win a major, and Henley was approaching that level somewhat as one of the best players unable to get over the hump on Sundays, like last week when he contended at the Cognizant Classic and finished tied for sixth.
“I've tried to just work really hard in all aspects of my game to try to put myself in position to win tournaments and compete at the highest possible level on the biggest and best courses,” he said. “Just crazy that it happened like that. It's just hard to take in. I can't explain it.”
His work ethic reached a new level in recent years, and the improved execution led to greater confidence.
“I don't know that I would have felt like I could win three or four years ago,” he said. “I'm definitely more confident in the last two years than I was four years ago.”
Especially at the end, with everything on the line.
“I think 17 and 18, yeah, I was very nervous,” Henley admitted. “That was as nervous as I can remember ever being.”
Which is something, after making his Presidents Cup debut last fall.
“Yeah, I mean, I guess maybe I was more at the Presidents Cup,” he said. “I'm not really sure. When you get that nervous and your heart's beating that fast, it's hard to even, it's hard to rate it. I was very nervous, though.”
Winning the tournament named for a legend at Bay Hill was some serious icing.
"It's unbelievable, it means so much," he said. "I have watched Tiger (Woods) make so many putts on this green. I have watched Rory (McIlroy) and Fran(cesco Molinari) and guys make putts to win here, and Bryson (DeChambeau).
“It's just cool that I did it, too.”